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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27649814">The Journey Begins - Original Version</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayColin/pseuds/JayColin'>JayColin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Unexpected Love [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, DISCONTINUED STORY, M/M, Only the version with Original Version in the title is discontinued, So don't get scared by the discontinued story tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:22:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>32,247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27649814</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayColin/pseuds/JayColin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a repost of the discontinued, old, original version of The Journey Begins. It has since been completely rewritten and is being posted here only for archival and comparison purposes.</p><p>Just to be clear, this version of the story is discontinued and will not be updated. Only six full chapters and one partial seventh chapter (that will not be included in this reposting since it was never finished) were written before I decided to do a page-one rewrite.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Unexpected Love [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/343909</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers.  I’m not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone’s copyright or trademark.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unexpected Love</p><p>By J.C. Vascardi</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Chapter One</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Thirteen-year-old Harry James Potter was lying on his bed deep in thought.  He wished that Pettigrew hadn’t escaped.  That would have cleared Sirius of any wrongdoing and Harry could have gone to live with him.  Instead, he was back to the Dursleys’ house and the thought of yet another summer with his cruel relatives made him want to crawl into a hole and hide.</p><p>‘I wonder what fresh Hell they’ll visit on me this summer,’ Harry thought bitterly.  ‘They seemed pretty scared when they found out that my godfather was a convicted murderer, but that’ll only hold them in check for so long.’</p><p>A knock on his bedroom door roused Harry from his thoughts.  Getting up from the bed and walking to the door, he opened it to find his Aunt Petunia standing there.</p><p>“Vernon took Dudley to the dentist,” Petunia said.  “I expect they’ll be gone at least an hour.”</p><p>‘Um, okay, that’s nice,’ Harry thought, ‘why are you telling me?’</p><p>“You have visitors in the sitting room,” Petunia added.  “They’re your kind.”</p><p>Harry began to understand now why Petunia had told him that his uncle and cousin were out of the house.  He nodded to his aunt before heading downstairs.</p><p>Petunia followed Harry back downstairs and went back into the dining room to finish setting the table for dinner, while Harry went into the sitting room to see two older women and a teenage boy sitting there.</p><p>One of the women was tall and thin, with long gray hair and was wearing a pair of silver-framed spectacles and deep emerald green robes.  The other woman was shorter and a bit more heavyset, with flyaway black hair streaked with gray.  She was dressed in brilliant scarlet robes.  The teenage boy, on the other hand, was tall and muscular with brown hair and a handsome face.  He wore black trousers and a black shirt, instead of wizard’s robes.  Harry also noticed that he was wearing what looked like dragon hide boots.</p><p>Harry didn’t recognize the women, but the boy looked familiar.  Harry was sure that he’d seen him at Hogwarts, but he was having trouble putting a name with the face.</p><p>“Ah, Mr. Potter, so glad to see you,” one of the women, the one wearing green robes, said.  “Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Athena Gracey and this is my associate, Eudora Douglas.  I’m not sure if you’ve met Mr. Diggory or not?”</p><p>“We’ve met,” Cedric said as he nodded at Harry.  “Hullo Harry.”</p><p>‘That’s it, Cedric Diggory,’ Harry thought, ‘the Captain and Seeker of Hufflepuff’s Quidditch team.’</p><p>“Hi Cedric,” Harry said with a smile.</p><p>“Please, Harry, have a seat,” the other woman, Eudora Douglas, the one wearing scarlet robes, said as she motioned towards a nearby chair.</p><p>Harry sat down and asked, “So, what brings you here?”</p><p>“In a nutshell, Mr. Potter, Eudora and I wish to take you away from here and train you,” Athena answered.  “Mr. Diggory has already agreed to accompany us.”</p><p>“Train me?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Yes, we want to train you in a series of advanced magical arts which you will never learn at Hogwarts,” Eudora elaborated.  “It will also give you a way of getting away from these people who are totally unfit to raise their own child, let alone someone as special as you, Mr. Potter.”</p><p>“Now wait just a minute,” Petunia said as she stopped setting the table and walked over to the group.  “Just who do you think you are to come into my home and say that I’m not fit to raise my own child?”</p><p>“If the truth hurts, Mrs. Dursley, then so be it,” Athena answered.  “The fact of the matter is you have not been a very good mother to your son Dudley.  He’s grossly overweight and he’s so spoiled that he thinks he’s entitled to get whatever he wants.  Do you honestly think that giving him the idea that he can go through life bullying everyone around until they see things his way and give him what he wants was the appropriate way to rear him?”</p><p>“Dudley is not overweight,” Petunia said petulantly.  “And he certainly isn’t spoiled; he’s a perfect little angel.”</p><p>“Mrs. Dursley if Dudley is an angel, then, to use a Muggle saying you may be familiar with, I’m a monkey’s uncle,” Eudora said.  “The fact of the matter is you’ve subjected Dudley to one of the worst kinds of child abuse imaginable.  You’ve given him the idea that he can get whatever he wants if he just makes a big enough fuss.  Did you know that many of the neighbor children run the other way when they see Dudley and his friends coming?”</p><p>“Why would anyone run away from my darling Duddykins?”  Petunia asked, as if the mere thought of anyone running away from Dudley was completely ludicrous.</p><p>“To avoid getting beaten up by him or in trouble with their parents,” Athena answered.  “On more than one occasion, Mrs. Dursley, your son has threatened bodily harm to several of the neighbor children if they didn’t give him what he wanted, whether it was money, shoes, or some new toy.  I’m actually surprised nobody has pressed charges by now.”</p><p>“I don’t believe you,” Petunia said.</p><p>“Quite frankly, Mrs. Dursley, I don’t care if you believe us or not,” Eudora said.  “If you want to go on thinking that your son is a perfect angel and that you’re a model parent, then so be it, but when your son finds his way into prison by the time he’s twenty, I want you to look back on this conversation and maybe then you’re realize, too late of course, that we were right.”</p><p>“And of course, Dudley is only one example of your horrid parental skills,” Athena added.  “While your treatment of him is horrific, it pales in comparison to your treatment of your nephew.  If Lily was alive, she would probably hex you into the middle of the next millennium for treating her son the way you have for the last thirteen years and nobody could blame her for it.”</p><p>“We’ve given him nothing more then what he deserves,” Petunia said as she looked at Harry with disdain.</p><p>“Excuse me, Mrs. Dursley,” Eudora said, “but no child deserves the kind of treatment that you’ve given to your nephew.  No matter how much you hated your sister, Mrs. Dursley, it did not give you the right to mistreat her son.  No child should be forced to call a cupboard under the stairs a bedroom for eleven years, nor should they be made to work like a slave in their own home, or made to starve because they didn’t finish everything that you wanted them to do in a day.”</p><p>“You should be extremely thankful,” Athena added, “that magic cannot bring back the dead.  If it could, I would bring Lily and James Potter back from their graves in a heartbeat and I guarantee that they would be extremely displeased with you, Mrs. Dursley.  They died protecting their son and your treatment of him is just as bad as spitting on their graves.”</p><p>While Harry was happy to see someone standing up for him to his aunt, he was also rather upset that it was happening in front of Cedric.  Only his closest friends knew the full extent of his treatment by his Muggle relatives and the fact that Cedric, a veritable stranger, now knew was rather embarrassing.  Harry did not want anyone’s pity and he was afraid that is exactly what Cedric would give him now.</p><p>Finding his voice, Harry said, “You said that you would take me away from the Dursleys’?”</p><p>“Yes, Mr. Potter,” answered Eudora.  “If you come with us to train, you will only have to step into this house one more time and then never again.  You will be away from the mistreatment of both your Muggle relatives and that wizened old fool that you know as Professor Dumbledore.”</p><p>‘Wizened old fool?’  Harry thought.  ‘I can’t say as I’ve ever heard anyone talk about Dumbledore that way.’</p><p>“Professor Dumbledore has always been very kind to me,” Harry spoke.</p><p>“Has he really, Mr. Potter?”  Athena asked.  “Did you know that he was the one who left you to be cared for by the Dursleys when your parents died?  Many wizarding families, including both Mr. Diggory’s family and your best friend Mr. Weasley’s family, offered to take you in and raise you as their own.  Instead, Dumbledore decided that you should live here with your Muggle relatives.  He left you on their doorstep with a note asking them to take good care of you and then he never even once thought to come back and check that they actually were.”</p><p>“And even now that he knows that your Muggle relatives have mistreated you, he still insists that you come back here every summer for more of the same,” Eudora added.</p><p>Harry remained quiet for several minutes as he thought about what it would have been like to have grown up with the Weasleys as his family.  He knew that it would have been a vast improvement over living with the Dursleys.  He wasn’t sure what growing up with Cedric’s family would have been like, as he barely knew him and had never met anyone in his family, but Cedric did seem like a nice guy who valued fair play.</p><p>Harry knew that Cedric had wanted to have the Quidditch game that the Dementors had interrupted this past year causing him to fall of his broom replayed.  Even if it didn’t happen, it was the fact that Cedric was willing to possibly give up Hufflepuff’s victory in a rematch that told him that Cedric was a decent person and growing up with his family would also have been an improvement over the Dursleys.  Of course, growing up with just about anyone’s family would probably have been better than the Dursleys.</p><p>“If I go with you,” Harry said, “where would we go?”</p><p>“We’d be going to my home, Mr. Potter,” Athena answered.  “It’s nothing elaborate, but I guarantee that you will be treated infinitely better there then you have been here.”</p><p>“What’s the catch?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“You are a very perceptive young man, Harry.  The catch is that you will not be returning to Hogwarts or seeing any of your friends until such time that Eudora and I believe your training to be finished.  I know that must seem like a horrible price to pay, Harry, but if you agree to accompany us, you will be learning things that you will never learn at Hogwarts.  And it’s not like you’ll be totally without friends, as I’m sure that given some time you and Mr. Diggory could become friends.”</p><p>“Plus, two more associates of ours,” Eudora added, “are out collecting two more students to be trained.  We chose four students in total, one from each of the four Hogwarts houses.”</p><p>The battle raging in Harry’s head was intense.  On one hand, he didn’t want to go off and leave Ron, Hermione, and his other friends.  On the other hand, the thought of finally being away from the Dursleys was an extremely appealing thought that he’d been dreaming about for years.</p><p>“Um, you said you picked someone from each house,” Harry said.  “I assume that means you picked someone from Slytherin.  Please tell me it wasn’t Draco Malfoy.”</p><p>“No, Mr. Potter,” Eudora said.  “We did not pick young Mr. Malfoy, nor did we pick any other student from Slytherin whose family supports Voldemort.  Believe it or not, some don’t.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that they support those fighting against Voldemort; merely that they’ve chosen to remain neutral.”</p><p>Harry nodded as he thought, ‘Well, at least I don’t have to deal with Malfoy.  That would have been a good enough reason to refuse right there.’</p><p>“Oh will you just say that you’ll go already?”  Petunia asked.  “Then you’ll finally be out of my sight and I won’t have to deal with you anymore.”</p><p>“I’m afraid, Mrs. Dursley, that you are mistaken,” Athena said with a smile on her face.  “If Mr. Potter decides to accompany us, we will be casting a charm on him which will create an exact duplicate of him to take his place here with you.”</p><p>“What?”  Petunia asked.</p><p>“Yes, Mrs. Dursley,” Eudora replied, “because we really can’t be sure how long Mr. Potter’s training will take, we can’t have him turn up missing and have people looking for him.  So, we will be making use of a charm that will create a temporary replacement for him, with all of his memories and abilities, who will stay here with you and attend Hogwarts in his place.”</p><p>“So, Mr. Potter,” Athena asked, “will you accompany us and train to become a powerful wizard or will you stay here with your Muggle relatives?”</p><p>“I’ll come with you,” Harry said at once.</p><p>“An excellent decision, Mr. Potter,” Eudora said as she pulled out her wand, pointed it at Harry and said, “&lt;i&gt;<em>Pario Geminus&lt;/i&gt;</em>!”</p><p>As soon as Eudora had said the incantation, a strange feeling washed over Harry and he noticed that it seemed like Dudley’s hand-me-downs were suddenly starting to fit him better, which he found extremely odd. </p><p>After a few minutes, Harry lifted his left arm and was shocked to see not one, but two hands coming out of his shirtsleeve.  Looking at Athena and Eudora, they just smiled at him and remained silent as the strange sensations continued to flow all over him and he soon noticed that all of his limbs seemed to be duplicating.  The final shock came when he felt something next to his right cheek and turning to look what it was, his nose brushed against the left cheek of another person.  It was then that his mind went black and he fainted from shock.</p><p>When he awoke, he found himself lying on the sofa with his head in Cedric’s lap.  In this position, Harry couldn’t help but notice Cedric’s gray eyes.  Harry could only think of two other people who had gray eyes, but unlike Lucius and Draco Malfoy’s eyes, Cedric’s had a calming quality and were far less stormy looking.  Cedric smiled at him as Harry sat up and noticed what must be the temporary replacement that Athena and Eudora were talking about, sitting in a nearby chair, seemingly asleep.</p><p>“Before I fainted,” Harry said, “I could have sworn that I had four hands and two heads.”</p><p>“That’s because for a few minutes you did, Harry,” Eudora revealed.  “The Twin Creation Charm quite literally copies you and causes your twin to grow out of your existing body.  You may have noticed that your clothes seemed to get less loose-fitting, well, that’s because for a few minutes you were sharing them with your new twin as he grew into existence.”</p><p>“So, I have a brother now?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Not in the normal sense, no,” Athena responded.  “Upon the completion of your training, you will return and your twin will cease to exist as he will merge back into your body and you will gain all of the memories and skills that he accumulated while you were gone, thus allowing you to step right back into your normal life as if you had never left.”</p><p>Harry nodded, although in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but wonder if this charm would have any unforeseen side effects.</p><p>“It’s bad enough that I have to take care of the real one,” Petunia said.  “You expect me to take care of a fake?”</p><p>“Yes, actually, we do,” Athena said as she stood up, walked over to Petunia and using her right hand, grabbed Petunia’s right hand.</p><p>Eudora pointed her wand at Petunia and said, “If you know what’s good for you, Mrs. Dursley, you will kneel now and say ‘I will’ to each of the questions that Athena is about to ask you.”</p><p>Scared out of her mind by the wand in Eudora’s hand, Petunia kneeled, followed by Athena.  Harry looked on with questioning eyes, not understanding what was happening.  Looking over at Cedric, Harry got the impression that he knew exactly what was going on, if the look on his face was any indicator.</p><p>Eudora placed the tip of her wand on Petunia and Athena’s joined hands, at which point Athena said, “Will you, Petunia Dursley, swear to never tell anyone about our visit today?”</p><p>Her eyes locked on the wand touching her hand, Petunia gulped and said, “I will.”</p><p>Petunia yelped as a thin jet of flame emitted from Eudora’s wand, winding its way around Athena’s and her hands like a fiery serpent.</p><p>“Will you promise never to discuss anything you’ve learned today in regards to Mr. Potter and Mr. Diggory’s training?”  Athena asked.</p><p>Gulping again, Petunia answered, “I will.”</p><p>Petunia looked like she was about to faint as a second jet of flame emitted from Eudora’s wand.</p><p>“And most importantly, will you swear to never reveal that the Harry Potter that is here with you is not the real one?”</p><p>“I will,” Petunia croaked, as a third jet of flame emitted from Eudora’s wand tip.</p><p>Athena stood up and removed her hand from Petunia’s, as Eudora put her wand away.  Petunia shakily stood up and after taking a few moments to recover, she asked, “What did you just do?”</p><p>“Do you recall Lily ever mentioning something called ‘The Unbreakable Vow’?”  Athena asked.</p><p>Petunia gasped and her eyes seemed to widen to the size of dinner plates, at which point, Eudora smiled and said, “Judging from your reaction, I’ll take it that you do.  At which point, Mrs. Dursley, you know that if you break the vows you just made, you will die.”</p><p>Petunia nodded her understanding, a look of utter horror on her face.  Perhaps if she had treated him better over the years, Harry could have found it in himself to feel sorry for his aunt.  As it was, however, he couldn’t, because as far as he was concerned, she deserved everything she got.</p><p>“It’s time for us to go, Harry,” Athena said.  “Your uncle and your cousin just got home and it wouldn’t do for them to see us here, not to mention two of you.”</p><p>“What about all of my belongings?  Shouldn’t I pack?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Athena and I will provide you with everything that you will need.  Anyway,” Eudora said as she gestured at the sleeping boy in the chair, “your temporary replacement will need all of it if he is to take your place.”</p><p>“Okay,” Harry said as he and Cedric stood up and followed Eudora and Athena out of the house through the back door, just as Vernon and Dudley entered through the front.</p><p>Leading Harry and Cedric into a deserted alleyway outside of the wards around the Dursley house, Athena wrapped her arms tightly around Harry as Eudora wrapped her arms around Cedric.  Seconds later there was two loud pops as the four of them Apparated away to begin Harry’s new life away from the Dursleys.</p><p>To be continued...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unexpected Love<br/>By J.C. Vascardi</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Chapter Two</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Moments later, Harry found himself standing outside a small two-story cottage covered in blue gingerbread siding and climbing ivy.  Near the house there was a well, and a little further back was what Harry assumed to be a barn.  He could also see the edge of what looked like a well-manicured garden behind the cottage.</p><p>Stepping away from Athena to look around a bit more, Harry could see that the house was in the middle of a clearing, surrounded on all sides by a dense forest of tall trees.  A small river that snaked its way out of the forest emptied into a large pond about twenty yards from the house and Harry couldn’t help but think that it would be a lovely place for a swim on a hot summer day.  It really was a very nice looking property and Harry was beginning to be even more thankful that he’d agreed to come.</p><p>“Why don’t you boys come inside?”  Eudora asked.  “Athena wants to show you where you’ll be sleeping.”</p><p>When Eudora spoke, Harry noticed that Athena had already gone into the house and that Cedric had been busy looking around as well.</p><p>Harry nodded to Eudora and followed her into the house, with Cedric following close behind.</p><p>The inside of the house was very cozy.  A large stone fireplace dominated one wall, with a kitchen counter and numerous storage cabinets nearby.  A rectangular dining table with eight chairs sat in the center of the room, and a sitting room was partially visible through an archway next to the fireplace.</p><p>“Eudora’s and my rooms are down the hall there,” Athena said as she pointed to a doorway opposite the fireplace.  “There’s a potions lab in the basement that we will be making use of during your training.  Your rooms are on the second floor, if you’ll please follow me.”</p><p>Harry and Cedric followed as Athena walked into the sitting room.  The room was spacious, decorated in peach and sage green, with four overstuffed armchairs and an overstuffed sofa that made the room look like a very comfortable place to spend an afternoon.</p><p>A cast-iron spiral staircase lead up to the second floor, where there was another sitting room decorated in shades of blue and cream.  A large stone fireplace dominated the far wall, flanked on both sides by three large bookcases and a door.  Four overstuffed wingback chairs rested in front of the massive fireplace.  Two small tables, each with a wizarding chess set on them, sat against one wall and a pair of oak partners’ desks occupied opposing corners of the room.</p><p>“This is your private sitting room and study area,” Athena said as she arrived at the top of the stairs.  “You’re more then welcome to use the downstairs sitting room anytime you like, of course, but it’s likely that your other trainers and I will be using it rather often, so we figured you’d like your own.”</p><p>“It’s very nice,” Harry said as he looked around the room.</p><p>“I’m afraid you will have to share a bedroom, Harry, Cedric,” Athena said.  “Your room is through the door to the left of the fireplace.  It does have its own bathroom, which you will have to share.  I hope that won’t be a problem.”</p><p>“Nah, I’m sure Harry and I are both used to sharing by now,” Cedric said.  “Sharing a bedroom and bathroom with only one other person will probably feel like luxury compared to the Hogwarts dormitories.”</p><p>Harry nodded as Athena smiled and said, “I’m glad.  The other two students we picked will share the other bedroom and bathroom, located through the door to the right of the fireplace.  Ideally you’d be sharing with different people, since we chose to train two students who just finished their third years and two who just finished their fifth years.  However, the other third-year student is a Slytherin and while he doesn’t support Voldemort, Eudora and I still figured that it would be unwise to place a Gryffindor and a Slytherin in the same bedroom.  So, we figured that the Gryffindor/Hufflepuff and Slytherin/Ravenclaw room assignments would cause the least problems.”</p><p>“Who are the other two students anyway?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Blaise Zabini from Slytherin and Roger Davies from Ravenclaw,” Athena answered.</p><p>Harry didn’t know either one of them very well.  He just hoped that Blaise wasn’t as bad as Malfoy.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Later that afternoon, Harry and Cedric were sitting in the upstairs common room playing a game of wizard chess.  Cedric frowned as Harry’s queen took one of his knights and checked his king.  He soon stopped frowning though when he noticed something that Harry had obviously missed and sent one of his bishops to take Harry’s queen.</p><p>Harry groaned as Cedric’s bishop pulled out a small dagger and stabbed his queen in the back.  He usually didn’t like playing wizard chess, mostly because whenever he played it was always with Ron, who never lost.  He had to admit though that he was enjoying playing with Cedric because this was actually their second game and he had won the first when he managed to checkmate the older boy in ten moves.</p><p>Cedric had obviously learned from that loss though, changed his playing style, and was now giving the younger boy a harder time.</p><p>The game continued for another ten minutes, before finally, Cedric smiled and said, “Checkmate,” as one of his rooks took out Harry’s last bishop.</p><p>Harry looked at the board and noticed that Cedric had indeed trapped him.  He had no way of blocking the attack from Cedric’s rook and he couldn’t move out of the line of fire because the only two squares that he could move his king to would put him in check with Cedric’s knight or queen.</p><p>“Good game, Cedric,” Harry said, as his king shot him an angry look before Cedric’s rook crushed him to death.</p><p>“Thanks, Harry,” Cedric said.  “I’m actually a little surprised I won because I haven’t played since before my brother moved to Romania.”</p><p>“I didn’t know you had a brother.”</p><p>“Yeah, I do,” confirmed Cedric.  “His name is Kirk.  He graduated the year before you started at Hogwarts and then he moved to Romania to become a dragon keeper, much to my parent’s displeasure.  They wanted him to get a nice office job at the Ministry.  They were hoping that he’d be the first Diggory to become Minister of Magic.”</p><p>“Well, it’s his life,” Harry said.  “He should be free to do with it what he wants.”</p><p>“Part of me agrees with that,” Cedric said.  “The other part doesn’t only because now our parents have transferred their dreams for Kirk to me.”</p><p>“So, I take it you don’t want to be Minister of Magic?”</p><p>“Would you?”</p><p>“Hell no,” Harry responded.</p><p>“My sentiments exactly,” Cedric said.</p><p>Before either boy could say anything else, Eudora came up the stairs, followed by two teenage boys and two other women who must have been the other associates that Athena and Eudora had mentioned.</p><p>One of the boys had neatly styled, short jet-black hair, green eyes, and tan skin.  He was wearing black trousers and a white silk shirt embroidered with a green snake.</p><p>The other boy was tall and athletic looking, with short blond hair and blue eyes.  He was dressed in a pair of navy blue trousers and a blue shirt.</p><p>As for the two women, one of them was tall and thin with short black hair and yellow eyes that reminded Harry of a hawk.  Her robes were black with silver trim.  The other woman was of medium height with long, curly red hair and brown eyes.  Her robes were a deep blue and she was wearing a white apron.</p><p>“Harry, Cedric,” Eudora greeted as the two stood from the chess table.  “This is Blaise Zabini,” she said as she pointed to the black-haired boy, “and Roger Davies.  Also, please meet your other trainers, Emma Baldwin,” as Eudora pointed to the black haired woman, “and Rose Ramsley.”</p><p>“It figures that you’d pick Potter,” Zabini said.  “Please tell me that I don’t have to share a room with a Gryffindor.”</p><p>“No, Mr. Zabini,” Eudora answered, “you will be sharing a bedroom and bathroom with Mr. Davies.  It’s through that door,” Eudora added as she pointed to the door on the right side of the fireplace.  “Mr. Potter and Mr. Diggory are in the other room.”</p><p>“So, what exactly are we going to be learning?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“All in due time, Mr. Davies,” Rose answered.  “All of you are supposed to be on summer vacation right now, so we’ve decided to delay starting your training for a week.”</p><p>“That way you can get settled,” Emma added.  “And maybe start putting any differences you may have with one another aside.  You will very likely be here for the next few years, so you should all make an effort to get along.”</p><p>“A few years?”  Blaise asked.  “You never said that we’d be gone that long.”</p><p>“Would it have mattered, Mr. Zabini?”  Eudora asked.  “If you’d prefer, I can take you back to your home, banish your replacement, Obliviate you and choose someone else from Slytherin to take your place.”</p><p>“No, I’ll stay,” Blaise said.  “I was just a bit caught off guard when you said we’d be here a few years.  I just never expected it to take that long, but, I have no qualms about staying.”</p><p>“What about the rest of you?”  Rose asked.  “If any of you would like to back out, now would be the time to say something.”</p><p>“Well, I’m sure you know my answer,” Roger said.  “I’m a Ravenclaw, so, I’m certainly not about to turn down the chance to learn.”</p><p>“Oh I’m definitely staying,” Cedric said.  “I’ll miss my little sister, but I certainly won’t miss my parents’ daily lectures about how it’s my duty to the family to work hard enough to be the youngest person ever elected Minister of Magic.”</p><p>“And what about you, Mr. Potter, will you stay or go?”  Emma asked.</p><p>“I’ll stay,” Harry said immediately, choosing not to elaborate on his reasons like the others had.  It was bad enough that Cedric, and presumably all four of the trainers, knew everything about the Dursleys.  He certainly wasn’t ready for Roger Davies or Blaise Zabini to know all about his life with them.</p><p>Eudora nodded and said, “I’m glad that you’ll all be staying.  Anyway, if you’ll excuse Rose, Emma, and me, we’re going to go and discuss some things.  Why don’t you boys settle in?”</p><p>Eudora, Rose and Emma headed over to the staircase and began going down.  Emma turned her head and cast one final look at the group and said, “Please do try not to kill each other.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>The next morning at breakfast, Athena sat down at the table and said, “You are all going to Diagon Alley today.”</p><p>“What?”  Roger asked.  “Isn’t that a bit risky?  I mean with our replacements and all?”</p><p>“No, the other trainers have made sure that none of your immediate family or your replacements will be in Diagon Alley today.  It’s possible that you will run into some people you know, of course, but you should just act normally and obviously don’t mention anything about your training.”</p><p>“Are we going alone?”  Blaise asked.</p><p>“Of course not,” Athena answered.  “It would be crazy for us to send you off to Diagon Alley alone, especially in Mr. Potter’s case.  We’ve arranged for escorts for each of you that we hope will not raise any suspicions.”</p><p>“So you and the other trainers aren’t going?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“Rose and Emma are going to go to pick up some supplies,” answered Athena.  “So, in case of an emergency, they’ll be there, but you shouldn’t act like you know them otherwise.  Especially if anyone you know is around as that would raise the question of how you know them, which might lead to questions you wouldn’t be able to answer.”</p><p>“Well, as an added precaution,” Eudora said, “I think we should probably cast the Fidelius charm.  With one of us as Secret Keeper, the boys won’t be able to reveal anything about their training.”</p><p>“Hmm, that could work,” said Athena after a moment of thought.  “We’d have to be careful how we worded it, to make sure the boys can’t reveal anything that we don’t want them to reveal, but it would be a good precaution.”</p><p>“Indeed,” Rose spoke up.  “I agree.”</p><p>“So, who are our escorts today?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Emma is bringing them,” Athena said.  “I think you will agree that nobody will find it suspicious to see you out in public with the escorts we’ve chosen.”</p><p>“Hello everyone,” Emma said as she walked through the front door, an hour later.  “I’ve brought the escorts.  Now, for Mr. Davies...”</p><p>When Emma said that, a tall and beautiful woman walked in and smiled at Roger, as he stood from the table, and went over to hug her.</p><p>“It’s so good to see you, Roger,” the witch said.</p><p>“You too, Michelle,” Roger said as they ended their hug.  Noticing the looks on the other boys’ faces, Roger said, “This is my sister-in-law, Michelle Davies; my older brother Phillip’s wife.  Michelle, this is Cedric Diggory, Blaise Zabini, and Harry Potter,” Roger said as he pointed to each boy.</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” Michelle said.</p><p>“Now, for Mr. Diggory,” Emma said, “we actually have two escorts.  They were sort of a package deal.”</p><p>At that point, a tall, muscular, and very handsome man with brown hair walked through the door, holding hands with a slightly shorter man with flaming red hair.</p><p>“Kirk, Charlie!”  Cedric said as he jumped up from the table and greeted the older men.  Turning to the others in the room, Cedric said, “This is my older brother, Kirk Diggory, and his significant other, Charlie Weasley.”</p><p>Cedric then introduced Kirk and Charlie to the other boys in the room, at which point Harry stood up and walked over to Charlie.</p><p>“Hello Charlie,” Harry said as he extended his hand for the older man to shake.  “It’s nice to finally meet one of the Weasleys I haven’t met.”</p><p>Charlie looked at Harry’s outstretched hand for a second, before he knelt down, pulled the younger boy into a hug, and said, “Nice to meet you too, Harry.  My mum has told me all about you.  She thinks of you like her seventh son, so that means you are family and I think a hug is more appropriate.”</p><p>As the hug ended, Harry smiled at the older redhead for a moment, and then shook hands with Kirk, who said, “It’s always nice to meet more of my brother-in-laws.  Merlin knows Charlie has certainly provided me with plenty of them.”</p><p>“Now, for you, Mr. Potter,” Emma said, “we were originally thinking of Remus Lupin as your escort, but tonight is the full moon, so that wouldn’t have worked.  So, in trying to get someone else, we ended up getting two people as your escorts.”</p><p>“Oh Harry, dear,” Molly Weasley said as she came in and engulfed Harry in a bear hug.  “I’m so glad that you’re safe and you won’t be with those horrible relatives of yours.”</p><p>As Molly released Harry, he noticed another man, tall and handsome, with the Weasley red hair, reaching down to his shoulders.  He was dressed in clothes that would not have looked out of place at a Muggle rock concert, although the dragon hide boots might have.  The shark tooth earring also added to the older man’s overall coolness factor, as far as Harry was concerned.  Harry knew he’d never met this person, so he assumed, correctly, that this was the eldest of Ron’s brothers, Bill Weasley.</p><p>“Harry, this is my eldest son, Bill,” Molly commented.  “Your trainers wanted him to escort you today, but I overheard the conversation and I insisted on coming along so that I could make sure you were all right.”</p><p>“And finally, last but not least,” Emma said, “Mr. Zabini’s escort.”</p><p>This time another man walked in and it was obvious to everyone in the room that it must be Blaise’s brother, because with the exception of their obvious age difference and height, they could almost be mistaken for identical twins.</p><p>Blaise stood up and calmly walked over to the older man and shook his hand, before he said, “Hello Blaine,” before looking at everyone else and said, “This is my older brother, by the way.”</p><p>“Why do you two look so similar?”  Cedric asked.  “I can tell that you’re different ages and obviously different heights, but other then that, I swear you two look like you could be twins.”</p><p>“Well, technically we’re the same person,” revealed Blaine.  “After I was born, mum was involved in a magical accident which left her barren.  She desperately wanted another child though so she started researching and eventually found a very old spell which would allow her to basically give birth to me a second time.”</p><p>“You mean a Cloning Spell?”  Roger asked.  “Aren’t those illegal?”</p><p>“They are now,” Blaise said, “but when mum used it, they weren’t.”</p><p>“Wait a minute, if Cloning Spells are illegal,” Harry said, as he looked at Athena and the other trainers, “wouldn’t that mean that the spell you used to create temporary replacements for us is also illegal?”</p><p>“You would think so, wouldn’t you?”  Athena asked in response, before she added, “I got the Twin Creation charm from a very old spell book, the only known copy of which has been in my family’s possession for over three-hundred years.  The Ministry laws on Cloning Spells do not ban all types of Cloning Spells, just the specific spells that they know to exist.  In other words, they don’t know about the Twin Creation charm, so it’s not illegal.”</p><p>“So how much alike are you?”  Charlie asked, looking at Blaise and Blaine Zabini.</p><p>“Well, as you can tell,” Blaine said, “Blaise and I are completely identical in terms of looks.  Our personality traits differ a bit though.  I’m more adventurous where as Blaise is more studious.”</p><p>“How old are you, Blaine?”  Bill asked.</p><p>“I’m 23,” Blaine answered.  “I was born on September 29, 1970.”</p><p>“Hmm, I don’t recall ever seeing you at Hogwarts,” Bill said.  “Based on your birthday, you would have started the same year I did.”</p><p>“You didn’t see me because I didn’t go to Hogwarts,” Blaine answered.  “My father insisted I go to Durmstrang.  Mum agreed on the condition that if she ever had another child, they’d stay close to home and go to Hogwarts.  My father agreed, but it wouldn’t really have mattered because he was dead by the time Blaise was born and mum was remarried to her seventh husband.”</p><p>“Her seventh husband?”  Molly asked in a scandalized voice, who after being very happily married to Arthur for so many years, found it inconceivable that a woman would be on her seventh husband.</p><p>“Um, yeah,” Blaise said.  “Mum is the type who prefers her husbands to be old, rich, and barely breathing.  Blaine and I don’t agree with her on that, but you can’t pick your parents.”</p><p>At this point, the trainers took a moment to cast the Fidelius charm with Athena as the Secret Keeper.</p><p>“Well, shall we get going?”  Athena said.  “This time of day is the best time to go to Diagon Alley because it won’t be very busy.  Even with escorts that won’t appear suspicious, we’d still prefer that this trip be made when there are not a ton of people roaming around.”</p><p>Everyone nodded to Athena, at which point Harry, Cedric, Roger, and Blaise were all ushered into the fireplace to Floo over to Diagon Alley, while the adults Apparated.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>To be continued...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unexpected Love<br/>By J.C. Vascardi</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Chapter Three</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Arriving in Diagon Alley, Rose and Emma looked at the group and Emma said, “Now, remember, you are all under the Fidelius and you will not be able to discuss the boys’ training.  Now, boys, Rose has something for you.”</p><p>At that point, Rose pulled a black velvet box out of the pocket of her apron and opened it to reveal four rings, two with gold bands and two with silver bands.  Encrusted with precious stones, all four rings looked very expensive.</p><p>“What are those?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Signet rings,” Emma said.  “We’ve had one made for each of you.  The rings are attuned to your magical signatures and nobody else can wear them, not even your temporary replacements.  If you are ever injured or need help, all you need to do is tap the ring and we will be able to instantly Apparate to your location.  They will also serve as a symbol of your identity.”</p><p>“Why would we need symbols of our identity?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“One of the things we’re doing today,” Rose explained, “is going to Gringotts to make arrangements with the goblins to ensure that your replacements don’t spend all of your money while you’re gone.  Athena and Eudora are meeting us at Gringotts.  We’ll explain in more detail when we get to the bank.”</p><p>“So, take your ring from the box and put them on your wand hand,” Emma said.  “You’ll know which one is yours, as it will be the only one you’ll be able to touch.”</p><p>Blaise was the first to take a ring from the box.  The band was silver, with a large emerald set in the center.  Engraved on both sides of the stone was a snake, with tiny emeralds for eyes.  Engraved on the inside of the band was Blaise’s full name and birthday.</p><p>Roger was next.  The band of his ring was gold, with a large diamond in the center.  A sapphire-eyed eagle was engraved on both sides of the diamond and again Roger’s full name and birthday were engraved on the inside of the band.</p><p>Cedric’s ring was silver with a diamond-eyed unicorn engraved on either side of a large diamond.</p><p>Harry’s ring was gold with an emerald-eyed phoenix engraved on either side of a large ruby.</p><p>“As you may have noticed,” Rose said, “the larger stones are the birthstones for the month you were born.  We picked the smaller stones to match your eyes as closely as possible.  If you’d all take a moment and peer into the large stones on your rings, you’ll be in for a bit of a surprise.”</p><p>Peering into the stone, Harry was awed to see that he could see a phoenix flying amongst an inferno of flames.</p><p>When Cedric peered into the diamond on his ring, he could see a particularly fine male unicorn, bathed in moonlight.</p><p>Roger saw an eagle flying through the clouds and Blaise saw a snake coiled around a tree.</p><p>Ten minutes later, Rose and Emma walked into the bank, followed by Harry, Cedric, Roger, and Blaise.  Emma asked Bill to accompany them, thinking that, as a trusted employee of Gringotts the goblins would perhaps trust his word.  The other escorts didn’t have any business to attend to at Gringotts and were instead waiting outside.</p><p>“Can I help you?” the goblin behind the desk asked.</p><p>“Yes, we have an appointment with the bank president,” Rose said.</p><p>“Ah, yes, he mentioned that he had an appointment this morning,” the goblin said, before he pointed to a golden scrollwork gate on the far end of the room as he stamped a piece of paper and handed it to Rose, “Give this to the lift attendant and he’ll take you up to the top floor.”</p><p>Rose nodded and led the group over to the lift.  She then handed the goblin the piece of paper who perused it for a second, before he nodded and ushered the group into the lift.  A few minutes later the gate opened and the group stepped out into an elaborate outer office.</p><p>Athena and Eudora were sitting waiting and they greeted the group upon arrival.</p><p>“Hello, Athena, Eudora,” Rose said.  “I thought it might be a good idea to bring Mr. Weasley up, seeing as how he works for the bank.”</p><p>“Good idea,” Athena nodded, before going over to the president’s secretary, who nodded and ushered them towards the ornate doors that lead into the inner offices.  On the door was a golden nameplate, which read:</p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Ragnok<br/>President<br/>Private</p>
</blockquote><p>Entering the office, a small, gray-haired goblin could be seen sitting behind the massive desk.  He was very wizened looking, suggesting that he was possibly one of the oldest goblins at Gringotts’.</p><p>“State your business,” Ragnok said as the nine people took their seats in front of the desk.</p><p>“My name is Athena Gracey,” Athena said.  “We’ve come to talk to you about putting certain limitations on four of the vaults here at the bank.”</p><p>“What type of limitations?”  Ragnok asked.</p><p>“First, you must understand,” Athena said, “that our conversation today will reveal information to you which is protected under the Fidelius charm.  You are familiar with it, I assume?”</p><p>“Yes, I am familiar with the Fidelius,” Ragnok answered.</p><p>“I am the Secret Keeper for this particular secret,” Athena answered.  “The secret is basically that my associates and I have taken custody of four students from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to train them in some advanced magic that they will not learn at school.  As this training could very well take years to complete, we have created temporary replacements for them, so that their absences are not noticed.”</p><p>“Ah, I’m beginning to understand the purpose of your visit,” Ragnok said.  “You wish to place limitations on the vaults of these students to ensure that the replacements don’t spend all their money.”</p><p>“Yes, that is exactly the purpose of our visit,” Athena nodded.  “The students are Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies, Blaise Zabini, and Harry Potter.  We have crafted for each of them a special and unique signet ring, attuned to their magical signatures, that nobody, not even their replacements, can wear or even so much as touch.”</p><p>“Let me guess,” Ragnok said, “you wish for me to inform the goblins on my staff that if they do not see these rings on the fingers of these four students that they should not allow more then a certain amount of money to be taken from the vaults.”</p><p>“That is correct,” Athena said.</p><p>“How do I know that you are telling the truth?”  Ragnok asked.  “How do I know that these students are the real students and not some cleverly disguised frauds?”</p><p>“That’s why I was asked to come, actually,” Bill said.</p><p>“You look very familiar,” Ragnok said, as he squinted at Bill through his spectacles.  “Do I know you?”</p><p>“William Weasley, Ragnok, sir,” Bill answered.  “Until very recently, I worked as a curse-breaker in Egypt.”</p><p>“Ah, yes, Weasley,” Ragnok said.  “I’ve gotten many glowing reports from your superiors in the Valley of the Kings.  They say you have a true talent for your work and that is rather obvious considering how much money you have made for this establishment.  Am I to understand correctly that you will vouch for these people?  Understand that if you do and I later find out that you have lied to me, it will be your job on the line.”</p><p>“I understand, sir,” Bill said, “and I will vouch for them.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>One hour later, the business at Gringotts’ Wizarding Bank was finished.  Everything was now arranged so that the temporary replacements would not be able to withdraw any more than 800 Galleons a year.  If they tried, the goblins were under strict orders to contact Ragnok, who would in turn contact Athena.  She would then go to the bank and perform a Memory Charm on the replacement and any guardian they may have brought with them to prevent them from remembering that they had wanted to withdraw more.</p><p>Athena and Eudora returned to the house after leaving the bank.  Rose and Emma went off to do their shopping, leaving the escorts to take the students around for their shopping.  After going to Madame Malkin’s and buying several new outfits to augment their wardrobes, the students and their escorts stopped at Florean Fortesque’s Ice Cream Parlor for sundaes, as it was a rather hot summer day.  Just as the group had been leaving Madame Malkin’s, Bill pulled out his wand and performed a Memory Charm on her so that she wouldn’t remember them coming in to buy so much clothing.</p><p>‘Wouldn’t want her saying anything to the replacements,’ Bill thought.</p><p>“Isn’t 800 Galleons a bit excessive as a spending limit?”  Harry asked, once everyone was seated at Fortesque’s with a sundae in front of them.</p><p>“Not really, Harry, dear,” Molly said, as she paused to take a bite of her hot fudge sundae.  “One has to take into consideration what your replacements might spend on books and such in a year, but there is also the tuition fee at Hogwarts to consider.”</p><p>Logically, Harry knew that as a boarding school, Hogwarts must have some form of tuition fee, but he’d never paid one or gotten a bill, so he had just assumed that it was free to attend Hogwarts.  He couldn’t help but wonder how the Weasleys, who were just scraping by, could afford a large tuition bill, especially since they currently had four children enrolled.  A part of him was very curious what the fee was, but then, he also didn’t want to ask because he was afraid of sounding stupid.</p><p>Looking at Harry, Cedric got the distinct impression that Harry wanted to ask more about the Hogwarts tuition fees, but was staying quiet.  ‘He’s probably afraid he’ll sound stupid,’ Cedric mused.  ‘Not that I would think he was, but the Zabinis might,’ as he looked at Blaise and Blaine.  ‘Maybe I can fill Harry in later, when we’re alone in our room.’</p><p>After eating their ice cream, the students and escorts stood up and went back to the alleyway behind the Leaky Cauldron, where Rose and Emma were waiting.</p><p>“As it would involve speaking the destination aloud,” Emma said, “we’d rather not have the students Floo back to the training site.  So can any of you do Side-Along Apparition?” she asked as she looked at the escorts.  “Rose and I can, but that obviously leaves two students left.”</p><p>“I can take Harry,” Molly said as she smiled at him.</p><p>“I’ll take Blaise,” Blaine said as he wrapped his arm around his brother.</p><p>“Excellent,” Rose said as she wrapped an arm around Roger and Emma wrapped her arm around Cedric, leaving the other escorts to handle the shopping bags, as they all Disapparated with a pop.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Athena magically expanded the dining table and invited all of the escorts to stay for dinner that night.  Between Athena, Molly, and Emma there was a feast fit for a king served that night and it would have been nigh on impossible for anyone to leave the table hungry.  After dessert, the escorts said their goodbyes and Rose told the boys to head upstairs to their sitting room while she helped the other trainers with the cleaning up.  Cedric, Harry, and Roger all offered to help, but Rose told them it wasn’t necessary.</p><p>Half-an-hour later, Rose and Emma walked up the stairs to find Cedric and Harry playing another game of wizard’s chess, while Blaise and Roger were sitting in two of the chairs by the fireplace reading books.  Looking up at their two trainers as they came into the room, the boys couldn’t help but notice that they were each carrying two long packages.</p><p>“Boys, if I could have your attention,” Emma said.  “Rose and I figured that some of you might miss flying, so we decided to remedy that.”</p><p>“We’ve brought a brand new broom for each of you,” Rose said with a smile as she handed each boy one of the packages.  “Well, go ahead, open them.”</p><p>All four boys smiled and then proceeded to tear the paper off the packages.  Rose and Emma smiled, as all four boys gasped at what they found inside the packages.</p><p>“Is this what I think it is?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“What do you think it is?”  Rose asked in response.</p><p>“Unless I’m very much mistaken,” Cedric said, “it looks like a Firebolt.”</p><p>“That’s because it is, Cedric, dear,” Emma said with a smile.  “We could have gone with Nimbus 2001’s, but we figured we’d be extra generous and go with Firebolts.”</p><p>“Wow,” Cedric said as he ran his hand over the handle of the broom, “Thank you!”</p><p>Cedric’s thanks spawned the other three boys to all thank Rose and Emma.  They probably would have done it sooner, but they were all caught up in the awe of getting the best racing broom on the market as a present.</p><p>Pulling a box from the pocket of her apron, Rose tapped her wand against it, causing the shrunken box to return to its normal size.</p><p>“We also bought this for you,” Rose said as she opened the box to reveal a set of high-quality professional grade Quidditch balls.  “We figured that since we’re giving you a week off before starting your training, you might want to take advantage of the summer weather and play some Quidditch.  Bill, Charlie, Kirk, Blaine, and Michelle said they’d come back tomorrow to help form teams.  Michelle said she’d bring your brother Phillip as well, Roger.  You won’t have full teams, but you will at least have enough players to cover each position.”</p><p>From the smiles on the boys’ faces, Rose and Emma knew that they were all looking forward to the next day.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>As the night wore on, Cedric was getting tired, especially after the big meal that had been served earlier.  He had wanted to explain to Harry the Hogwarts tuition system, but he knew that he was getting tired enough that he might not be able to stay awake for long.  Therefore, pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill, Cedric sat down and wrote Harry an anonymous letter, detailing the tuition system.  When he finished, he put the letter in an envelope, placed it on Harry’s pillow and then headed into their shared bathroom to shower and change for bed.</p><p>Cedric was fast asleep by the time Harry finished up in the bathroom that night and found the letter on his bed.  The letter was anonymous, but Harry suspected it was from Cedric, as he had not seen Roger or any of the trainers come into the bedroom he shared with Cedric, and he couldn’t imagine Blaise writing it.  While it was true that Harry did not know Blaise very well, he just got the feeling that if Blaise was anything at all like Draco, there was just no way Blaise had written the letter.</p><p>Sitting down cross-legged on the bed, Harry read the details of the Hogwarts tuition system.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Tuition payments are due on the first day of each term: September 1st and January 1st.  By attending Hogwarts, you magically sign a binding contract that authorizes Gringotts’ Wizarding Bank to automatically transfer the tuition payments from your vault to Hogwarts’ vault.  Tuition payments are non-refundable.</p><p>Tuition for students in First through Third Years is 200 Galleons per term and Fourth through Seventh Years pay 300 Galleons per term.</p><p>The members of the Board of Governors maintain the Governors’ Assistance Fund to assist low income families with tuition costs.  Depending on a family’s income, they are eligible for a stipend of anywhere between 75 and 150 Galleons per child, per term.</p><p>For larger families with multiple students attending Hogwarts at the same time, discounts are offered.  If a family has two students attending at the same time, a discount of 5 percent is taken off the tuition costs of the second child.  Three students attending at once means the third child gets a 10 percent discount.</p><p>There are also scholarships available, which are awarded to Fifth year students who performed well on their OWL exams.  Scholarship money is deposited in each student’s vault upon receipt of the OWL results.  Scholarships are a one-time gift and not given on a per term basis.</p><p>Available OWL Scholarships:</p><p>Ollivanders’ awards a scholarship of 10 galleons for Outstanding Charms OWLs.</p><p>Slug &amp; Jiggers Apothecary gives 5 Galleons for Outstanding Potions OWLs.</p><p>Flourish &amp; Blotts Bookstore grants 15 Galleons for Outstanding History of Magic OWLs.</p><p>The Magical Menagerie gives 10 Galleons for Outstanding Care of Magical Creatures OWLs.</p><p>The Department of Magical Law Enforcement gives 5 Galleons for Outstanding Defense Against the Dark Arts OWLs.</p><p>Other Scholarships:</p><p>The Ministry of Magic awards any student who gets an Outstanding on all of their OWL exams with 50 Galleons.</p><p>Quality Quidditch Supplies gives 20 Galleons to each student who plays on their House Quidditch team.</p><p>The Department of Magical Law Enforcement gives 5 Galleons to each student who is named a Prefect and 10 Galleons each to the Head Boy and Head Girl.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>‘Hmm, well, this was certainly thorough,’ Harry thought.  ‘I wondered how the Weasleys could afford to put all their kids through school.  Now, I know.  It also explains why Mrs. Weasley was so proud of Percy when he got all those Outstanding marks on his OWLs.  She was proud, of course, but it also lessened the financial strain on the family.’</p><p>Setting the letter aside, Harry stood up from his bed, turned down the bedding, and then slid under the covers.  He cast one final look across the room at Cedric, before he extinguished the oil lamp next to his bed and settled down to sleep.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>To be continued...</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unexpected Love<br/>By J.C. Vascardi</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Chapter Four</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Early the next morning, the boys were all downstairs at the table eating breakfast.  The speed at which they were wolfing down their food made it obvious to the trainers that they were anxious to get outside and test out their new Firebolts.</p><p>Athena was slightly shocked to see Blaise eating so fast.  She expected that, as a pure-blood Slytherin with a mother as rich as Caroline Zabini was, after all her marriages, he would have better manners.  Of course, it was entirely possible that he did, but the excitement of testing out his very own Firebolt was enough to make him temporarily forget them.</p><p>At half-past eight, several pops could be heard from outside, followed by a knock on the door.  Eudora stood up and answered it, stepping aside to allow Molly, Bill, Charlie, Kirk, Blaine, Michelle, and Phillip into the house.</p><p>“Would any of you like breakfast?”  Athena asked from her seat at the head of the table.  “There’s plenty of food.”</p><p>“No thanks,” Bill said as he smiled first at Athena and then his mum.  “Charlie, Kirk, and I already ate.”</p><p>“We already ate, too,” Michelle said as she and Phillip sat down next to Roger.</p><p>“I’m not hungry,” Blaine said as he sat down, “although a cup of coffee would be nice.”</p><p>Athena nodded, pulled out her wand, and mumbled under her breath as she waved it in the direction of the cook top.  The coffee pot floated up, poured coffee into a cup on the nearby counter, and then returned to its place as the cup floated over to rest on the table in front of Blaine.  Blaine smiled at Athena and then tasted his coffee, smiling again, as he said, “This is excellent.”</p><p>“I’m glad you like it,” Athena said.  “It’s my own special blend.  Some people think it’s too strong, but I always liked my coffee strong.”</p><p>“So do I,” Blaine said as he took another sip.</p><p>“Molly, can I get you anything?”  Athena asked with a smile.</p><p>“No thank you,” Molly answered.</p><p>The boys finished their breakfast, as Blaine finished his coffee.  After a round of thanks for the food and coffee, everyone went outside to start their Quidditch game.  Emma was going to act as referee and scorekeeper.  Molly, Rose, Eudora, and Athena decided to adjourn to the sitting room for a talk, however.</p><p>Once the teams were chosen, Emma pulled out her wand and conjured up five blue Quidditch uniforms, and five green Quidditch uniforms.  The blue team consisted of Harry as Seeker, Bill as Keeper, Michelle as Beater, and Kirk and Charlie as Chasers.  The green team consisted of Cedric as Seeker, Roger as Keeper, Phillip as Beater, and Blaise and Blaine as Chasers.</p><p>Emma then summoned the box containing the Quidditch supplies and after Harry and Cedric shook hands, the two teams took to the skies as Emma released the Golden Snitch, the Quaffle, and as a safety precaution since there were half the usual number of Beaters, only one of the Bludgers.</p><p>The blue team quickly got possession of the Quaffle and managed to get it past Roger twice, before he blocked it a couple of times and the green team took possession.</p><p>Harry circled the field high above, his eyes sharp, focused on finding that small hint of gold that would alert him to the presence of the Snitch.  Circling the field at this height, Harry could see above the tree line and circling around so that he was facing away from the house, Harry was shocked by what he could see in the distance.</p><p>Cedric, despite also keeping an eye out for the Snitch, noticed the look on Harry’s face, flew up near him and asked, “All right, Harry?”</p><p>“Is that what I think it is?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“What?”  Cedric asked, confused.</p><p>“There,” Harry said as he removed a hand from his broom and pointed.</p><p>Looking where the other boy was pointing, Cedric’s mouth dropped open at what he saw.  He now understood the look on Harry’s face, for there, in the distance, was the unmistakable form of Hogwarts Castle.</p><p>“If that’s Hogwarts,” Harry said, “then that means we’re actually in a clearing in the middle of the Forbidden Forest.”</p><p>“Hmm, yeah, it would,” agreed Cedric.  “Strange.”</p><p>Harry nodded and then spotted a glint of gold.  Cedric was still looking at the towers and spires of Hogwarts in the distance and didn’t notice right away when Harry zoomed off on his broom in pursuit of the Snitch.  Cedric was hot on the younger boy’s heels a fraction of a second later though and soon the two Seekers were neck and neck, as they flew with their hands outstretched, as the Golden Snitch flew only a few inches ahead.</p><p>Being a few years older, Cedric’s arms were longer and he actually could have easily picked up just a bit more speed and catch the Snitch before the younger Seeker.  Cedric still felt bad though about Hufflepuff’s mistaken win during the last school year, where Cedric had caught the Snitch only because Harry had fallen off his broom.  If he had only seen Harry falling, he would have abandoned looking for the Snitch and gone after Harry instead.  Cedric saw this as the rematch that never happened at Hogwarts and decided to let the younger Seeker win, without actually making it seem like he was letting him prevail.</p><p>Harry turned his head to look at Cedric for a fraction of a second, before he smiled and put on a burst of speed, flying forward, his hand outstretched and a rush of satisfaction filled him as his fingers closed around the tiny golden ball.</p><p>Emma blew a whistle and shouted, “Game over, Harry Potter has caught the Snitch!”</p><p>The teams landed and Emma then revealed the final score, and it would seem that while Harry and Cedric were busy looking at Hogwarts and chasing the Snitch, the green team was busy mopping the floor with the blue team, despite their early lead.</p><p>“The final score is green team, 230, and blue team 220,” Emma revealed.  “The green team wins!”</p><p>Blaise and Blaine had identical smug looks on their identical faces as they walked over to Harry, as Blaine patted him on the back and Blaise said, “Thanks for securing our team’s win, Potter.”</p><p>“I’m not mad or anything,” Bill said as he walked over to Harry, “considering my poor performance as a Keeper, but if you’d only waited a little longer, Kirk and Charlie could have scored some more times and we would have won.”</p><p>Harry said, “Sorry, Bill.  I was so caught up in looking at Hogwarts and for the Snitch that I didn’t pay much attention to anything else.”</p><p>“Looking at Hogwarts?”  Charlie asked.  “What do you mean, Harry?”</p><p>“Hogwarts Castle is right over there through the trees,” Harry said as he pointed in the direction he and Cedric had seen the castle.  “Cedric and I both saw it before we took off after the Snitch.”</p><p>The others all looked at Harry as if they didn’t believe him until Cedric said, “It’s true.  We must be in the Forbidden Forest.”</p><p>“Cedric and Harry are both right,” Emma said with a smile.  “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is exactly two and a half miles north of here.  As large as the castle is, it doesn’t surprise me that Harry and Cedric could see it, since it’s such a clear day today.”</p><p>“So we really are in the Forbidden Forest?”  Kirk asked.</p><p>“Yes, we are,” answered Emma.  “Not many people know that this clearing exists as it is Unplottable, but as you can see, it does exist.”</p><p>“Does that mean we might see centaurs and unicorns coming out of the forest?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“They rarely do,” Emma said, “although, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of seeing one, Roger.  Normally though, they won’t bother you unless you bother them first.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Meanwhile, inside the cottage, Athena, Rose, Eudora, and Molly had adjourned to the first floor sitting room.</p><p>“I must admit that I am still rather leery about leaving Harry and the others here with you,” Molly said.</p><p>“Why is that, Molly?”  Eudora asked.</p><p>“Because I don’t know you,” Molly answered.</p><p>“Are you sure that you don’t know us, Molly?”  Rose asked.</p><p>“Of course I’m sure,” Molly said.  “I've never met any of you before a few days ago and now you expect me to just leave Harry here with you and not tell Albus about it?”</p><p>“You don’t really have a choice in that, Molly,” Athena said.  “I’m sure you know how the Fidelius Charm works.  As Secret Keeper, I’m the only one who can tell Albus that the boys are here and I have no intention of telling that wizened old fool anything.”</p><p>“Wizened old fool?”  Molly asked, clearly shocked to hear anyone refer to Albus Dumbledore that way.</p><p>“Yes, yes, I know,” said Athena, as she noticed the look on Molly’s face.  “Many people think that Albus Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard alive, but that really is not true.  There are others who are more powerful, but they choose to allow Albus Dumbledore to be front and centre for their own protection.”</p><p>“The only wizard even close to Albus in power died almost fourteen years ago.”</p><p>“Molly, if you’re referring to Voldemort,” Eudora said, as Molly flinched at the mention of the name, “then I’m afraid he is not dead.  Oh, he may be gone, but be forewarned, he is not dead.  That is why we have taken Harry and the others to be trained.  We can teach them to use powers that will make them all strong in their own right, but together, they will be a force that nobody, even Voldemort and Dumbledore combined, could stand against.”</p><p>“In case you haven’t grasped it yet, Molly,” Rose said, “Athena, Eudora, Emma, and I, are all more powerful than Dumbledore, but we are also getting on in years and contrary to popular belief, magic does not always get stronger as one ages.  Sometimes it can get weaker and we fear that by the time Voldemort comes back, we will not be powerful enough to defeat him.  That is why we have decided to teach Harry and the others everything we know, because in their youth, they will be strong enough to save the Wizarding world as we know it.”</p><p>“I still don’t know if I can trust you,” Molly said.</p><p>“Well, I suppose in order to gain your trust, Molly,” Athena said as she stood up, “another secret protected by the Fidelius is necessary.”</p><p>Athena cast the spell and then motioned for Rose and Eudora to stand up.  Molly watched, a look of wonderment in her eyes, as the three women waved their wands in front of their faces and their features melted away to reveal faces that Molly did indeed know.</p><p>“Now do you feel less leery about leaving Harry and the others with us?”  Athena asked.  “Do not say my real name, lest someone overhears it, but I trust you feel better now?”</p><p>“Yes, I do,” answered Molly.  “What about Emma?  Who is she?”</p><p>Athena smiled and whispered something into Molly’s ear, causing her to smile and nod, before the three women waved their wands over their faces again and Molly watched as the familiar faces were replaced with those of the women she thought she didn’t know.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>The week passed quickly, and soon the day on which the boys knew their training was due to begin had dawned.  They all came downstairs to breakfast to find the table full of food, but no sign of any of the trainers.  The four boys shrugged, sat down, and helped themselves to breakfast.  It was while he was setting the pitcher of orange juice down that Cedric noticed the note.</p><p>“Hey, there’s a note,” Cedric said as he took it and read it.</p><p>“What does it say?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“It says,” Cedric said, before reading the note aloud.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p> </p><p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>Blaise, Cedric, Harry, and Roger,<br/></em>
    <em>Make sure to eat a hearty breakfast, as you will need your strength today.  As you may have been wondering, since you were told not to pack anything, including your wands, today you will begin studying the art of Wandless Magic.<br/></em>
    <em>Please report to the garden behind the cottage after breakfast.<br/></em>
    <em>Eudora</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p>*     *     *</p><p>“Wow, Wandless Magic,” Roger commented.  “I’ve heard my parents mention it before but it’s supposed to be very hard to do.”</p><p>“Yeah... it is,” agreed Blaise.  “Most wizards never bother with it.”</p><p>“I think my dad knows how to cast one spell wandlessly,” Cedric said, “but it’s a very simple spell and he says it’s very hard to target it without a wand.”</p><p>Harry nodded and remained silent, for fear of sounding stupid.  Blaise, Cedric, and Roger were all pure-bloods, so Harry knew that they all had a much better understanding of the Wizarding world.  In Roger and Cedric’s case, as they had both been at Hogwarts for two years longer than Blaise and himself, Harry knew that their magical knowledge would be even more complete.</p><p>The boys ate breakfast in silence and then headed out to the garden, where Eudora was waiting for them.</p><p>“Hello boys,” Eudora said.  “I hope you all had plenty to eat.”</p><p>They nodded, and Eudora smiled.  “Good, you’ll need your strength, because the art of Wandless Magic can be very tiring, since you use your own inert magic to perform it.  When you use a wand, the power from the wand core assists in pulling your magic from your cores, but also lessens the amount of your own magic necessary to cast the spell.  The wand also assists in targeting your spells.  With Wandless Magic, you must concentrate much harder, not only to draw your magic out but also to properly target your spells.”</p><p>“So are we to become masters of Wandless Magic and then go back to Hogwarts?”</p><p>“No, Cedric, the four of you will be learning much more than just Wandless Magic, but when doing anything, it is best to start at the beginning and in the case of your training, Wandless Magic is only the beginning.  Now, we will work on the Levitation Charm, <em>Wingardium Leviosa</em>, today.  I know it seems like an easy spell, especially to you and Roger, but you will quickly learn that it isn’t quite as easy as you might expect when done without your wand.”</p><p>With that, Eudora began to instruct her pupils how to draw power from their cores, and perform magic.  Much to the boys’ chagrin, it took two weeks before they managed to levitate even the smallest of items wandlessly.</p><p>Eudora told them, however, that it was natural and to not expect to be able to master it in a matter of days.  She also said that with lots of practice, it would get easier.  Until eventually, it would become second nature.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>As the end of summer approached, talk of the Quidditch World Cup had all four boys very excited and at the same time, disappointed, because they knew that they would not be able to attend.  Well, they didn’t know it for certain, as their trainers hadn’t said anything about it, but all four boys doubted they’d be allowed to go simply because there would be too many people.</p><p>Roger, Blaise, and Cedric knew that all of their duplicates would attend, as they knew that their parents had all gotten tickets months ago.  Harry wasn’t sure if his duplicate would be there, but he thought he remembered Ron talking about going to the Cup and he was sure that if the Weasleys did go, he would be invited to come along.</p><p>“Too bad we won’t be able to go,” Roger said.  “I was looking forward to it.”</p><p>“So was I,” Cedric said.</p><p>At this point, Eudora walked up the steps from downstairs and looking around the room and noticing the sad looks on the boys’ faces, she asked, “Why so melancholy?”</p><p>“Oh just wishing we could go to the World Cup,” Blaise said.</p><p>“What makes you think you can’t?”  Eudora asked.</p><p>“You mean we can?”  Harry asked.  “We just assumed that we wouldn’t be able to go because there would be so many people around and our duplicates are certain to be there.”</p><p>“Well, that is true,” said Eudora.  “However, the other trainers and I talked about it and we agreed that it wouldn’t be fair to make you miss the World Cup.  Athena managed to secure the last six tickets for the Top Box, so she and Emma will be taking the four of you to the Cup.”</p><p>“What about our duplicates?”</p><p>“Well, nobody will recognize you,” Eudora said, as she waved her hand a few times in front of each of the boys while muttering incantations under her breath.  Finally, she conjured a large floor mirror and said, “You will all be going in disguise, as you can see.”</p><p>The four boys looked into the mirror and were shocked to see that they all looked completely different.  Harry had blond hair, his eyes were now blue, and his tell-tale lightning bolt scar was gone.  Blinking his eyes a few times, he also quickly realized that his need for glasses was also gone.</p><p>Blaise also had blond hair and blue eyes now, and his new facial features were similar to Harry’s; so similar that it would probably be possible to mistake them for twins, unless you looked hard enough to see the subtle differences.</p><p>Cedric had blond hair and Roger had black hair, and both had hawk-like yellow eyes, and facial features that suggested they were related, but not as closely as Harry and Blaise appeared to be.</p><p>“We perhaps should have used these disguises a few months ago when we took you all to Diagon Alley,” Eudora said, “but, then we knew the goblins would need to see your true appearances and we didn’t want to bother with the disguises at the time.”</p><p>“Wow, it’s amazing,” said Cedric.  “I don’t recognize myself, so there’s no way anyone else will.”</p><p>“Yes, that is the desired effect,” Eudora said with a smile.  “Now, should anyone ask, Harry you are Andreas Gracey and Blaise you are Andrew Gracey.  You’re twins, though not identical, and Athena is your grandmother.  Cedric your name is Dylan Baldwin and Roger you are Erik Baldwin, cousins and Emma is your aunt.  All of you attend Beauxbatons Academy, in France.  Athena will cast a spell that will allow you to speak French fluently.”</p><p>“I already speak fluent French,” Blaise drawled.</p><p>“Well, Athena will still use the charm on you, dear,” said Eudora.  “In addition to granting you the ability to speak fluent French, the spell will change your voice so that it sounds like Andrew Gracey’s voice.  It wouldn’t do for you to go to the World Cup disguised as Andrew Gracey and sounding like Blaise Zabini.”</p><p>“Is it safe to say that we attend Beauxbatons?”  Roger said.  “I mean, what if someone at the Cup could confirm that we don’t?”</p><p>“Ah, but that will not happen,” Eudora answered.  “You see, Athena’s grandsons and Emma’s nephews actually are students at Beauxbatons.  They won’t be attending the Cup, so Athena and Emma decided to disguise you as them.  At any rate, nobody from Beauxbatons will be in the Top Box, but I must warn you, that there will be people that you know and you will have to make sure to act like you don’t.”</p><p>“Who is all going to be sitting in the Top Box?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“Well, obviously Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge,” Eudora replied.  “In addition to Dmitri Oblansk, the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, Ludo Bagman, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and possibly Bartemius Crouch, Sr., the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.”</p><p>“Well, I can’t say I know any of them,” Blaise said.</p><p>“Yes, but you do know Caroline, Blaine, and Blaise Zabini I assume?”  Eudora asked with a grin.  “Yes, Blaise, your duplicate is attending the Cup with your mother and brother.  You may or may not already know this, but your mother has been dating Cornelius Fudge as of late, so he’s invited your family as his guests.”</p><p>“Well, I can’t say I did know that,” Blaise said.  “I suppose it’s being kept under wraps to avoid making the Minister look bad.  Many think my mother is a black widow after all, considering that she’s married and buried seven husbands.  Minister Fudge is much younger then mum’s average date, but I suppose she figures she’s made enough money off her previous husbands and now it’s time to date someone who can give her some social prestige.  Can’t get more prestigious then being the wife of the Minister of Magic.”</p><p>“No, you can’t,” Eudora agreed.  “Anyway, you’ll have to act like you don’t know them, Blaise.  I know that may be hard, but it is necessary, nonetheless.  At any rate, they won’t be the only familiar faces in the box, either.  Arthur Weasley called in a few favours at the Ministry and managed to get tickets in the Top Box for himself, his six sons, plus Kirk, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter.”</p><p>“So, my duplicate will be there too?”  Harry asked, as Eudora nodded.  “And most of the Weasleys who I have to pretend I don’t know?”</p><p>“Yes,” Eudora said.  “Do you think you can handle that?”</p><p>“I’d do anything to see the World Cup,” Harry answered.  “If that means pretending I don’t know my best friends, especially considering they won’t know me anyway and my duplicate will be sitting with them, then I say, ‘Best friends, what best friends?’”</p><p>Eudora smiled and nodded, before dropping her bombshell, “That leaves three seats left in the Top Box and I have it on very good authority that Minister Fudge has invited Lucius Malfoy and family to occupy them.  I hope that won’t be a problem for anyone.”</p><p>“Why would it be a problem?”  Blaise asked and then looking at Harry, he said, “Oh yeah, Potter and Draco hate each other.”</p><p>“Well, Andreas Gracey is a pure-blood,” Eudora said, “so, if you play your part well, Harry, I doubt you’ll have any problems with young Mr. Malfoy.  He’ll probably be too busy shooting daggers at your duplicate, or actually watching the match, and I doubt he would misbehave much anyway in front of his parents, let alone Cornelius Fudge.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Very early the next morning, Athena went in and woke up Harry and Cedric, as Emma went in to wake up Blaise and Roger.  If the boys were at all upset about being woken up at three in the morning, they quickly got over it when they realized that today was the day of the Quidditch World Cup.</p><p>“Please wear the Muggle clothing that we gave you last night,” Athena reminded.  “The campground being used is run by a Muggle, so we’ll need to be as inconspicuous as possible when we check in.”</p><p>Once everyone was in the kitchen, Rose handed Athena a large wicker picnic basket.</p><p>“We’ll eat breakfast in the carriage,” Athena said as she took the basket and led the way as Emma and the boys followed her out of the house.</p><p>Outside the cottage, a carriage, similar to the ones used at Hogwarts, was sitting in the yard.  A big difference though was that this carriage was not horseless – a team of five jet black horses was harnessed to it.</p><p>“The nearest Portkey is in Hogsmeade,” Emma said.  “It’s a bit too far from here to walk, so we prepared the carriage.  We could have simply Flooed over to Hogsmeade, but then we would have to walk back to avoid saying our destination aloud upon our return.  Therefore, we’ve rented space at the stables in Hogsmeade to store the carriage and horses while we’re gone.”</p><p>Harry wanted to ask what a Portkey was, but he still wasn’t over his problem of feeling stupid in front of Roger, Cedric, and Blaise, let alone the trainers.  He hadn’t known any of them very well for any real length of time, so he didn’t feel comfortable enough around any of them to open up about his lack of knowledge about the Wizarding world.  He was beginning to feel comfortable with Cedric, perhaps enough that had it only been the two of them, he would have asked, but not with the others present.  He expected he wouldn’t really need an explanation though, as he would find out soon enough exactly what a Portkey was.</p><p>Emma performed the Glamour Charms to change the boys’ appearances and Athena cast the spell that would allow them to speak fluent French before they all boarded the carriage and began the trip through the forest.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>The trip through the Forbidden Forest was uneventful, though it was over an hour before the carriage arrived in Hogsmeade, as the forest surrounding the clearing Athena’s house was in was very dense and it would have been impossible for the carriage to navigate through it.  As it was, they ended up going about a mile-and-a-half out of their way in order to get through the forest.</p><p>Arriving at the Hogsmeade stables, Athena paid the fee to stable the horses and carriage, before leading the group over to the street in front of the Three Broomsticks.  Several old, tattered boots and other items were lying on the ground.  At first glance, Harry thought they were useless junk, until another group of wizards and witches walked over, picked up one of the boots and disappeared from sight moments later.</p><p>Picking up a tattered black fedora with a hole in it, Athena said, “Grab on, boys.”</p><p>Emma and the boys all grabbed onto the hat and a moment later, they all felt the feeling of a hook behind their navels as they disappeared.</p><p>Harry and Blaise landed at their destination in a tangle of limbs, while Emma, Athena, Cedric, and Roger remained standing, though they all looked very windswept.  Harry and Blaise disentangled themselves from one another and Cedric held out a hand to help Harry up as Roger did the same for Blaise.</p><p>After a brief chat with the Ministry officials that were collecting the Portkeys, and another quick conversation with the Muggle who ran the campground, Athena and Emma led their group to the designated field.  They passed several tents until they arrived at a large patch of open grass with a sign staked into the ground that read: Gracey/Baldwin.</p><p>Emma looked around for a moment to ensure nobody was watching, before she pulled a small bundle no bigger than a men’s wallet from the pocket of the dress she was wearing and waved her hand over it, causing the package to enlarge to its proper size.</p><p>“We’ll have to put it together the Muggle way, of course,” Emma said.  “Anti-Muggle Security and all, but Athena and I were practicing last night and we got the hang of it.  It should just take a few minutes.  I’d tell you boys to go and chat with some others, but it might be best if you stayed close to Athena and me.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Later that afternoon, the boys followed Athena and Emma into the World Cup Stadium.  Athena gave the attendant the tickets and he told them how to get up to the Top Box.  Arriving in the box, the boys noticed that with the exception of a house-elf who was probably saving a seat for her master, they were the first ones to arrive.</p><p>That didn’t last long, however, for shortly there after, a mass of red hair entered the box and Harry knew that the Weasleys had just arrived.  Bill, Charlie, and Kirk shot Athena, Emma and their disguised pupils quick smiles, acting like they’d never met any of them before.</p><p>“Hullo,” Arthur Weasley said as he entered the box, near Athena.  “I’m Arthur Weasley and who might you be?”</p><p>“Athena Gracey,” Athena answered, as she placed her hands on Harry and Blaise’s shoulders, “and these are my grandsons, Andreas and Andrew.”</p><p>“Emma Baldwin,” Emma said with a smile, “and my nephews, Erik and Dylan.”</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” Arthur said with a smile, as he began to introduce everyone in his party.</p><p>Over the next half-hour, the box slowly began to fill up.  Caroline Zabini, Blaine Zabini, and the faux Blaise Zabini showed up and took their seats about five minutes before Cornelius Fudge entered the box with another man.</p><p>“Hello everyone,” Cornelius said.  “Allow me to introduce the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, Mr. Oblansk.”  At this point, Lucius Malfoy entered the box, along with a dignified looking blond woman and the ever sour-faced Draco Malfoy.  “Ah, Lucius, I’m glad you could make it.”</p><p>“Minister,” Lucius drawled with a nod of his head.  “This is my wife, Narcissa, and our son, Draco.”</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you both,” Cornelius said as he kissed Narcissa’s hand and shook hands with Draco.</p><p>At this point, Lucius noticed Caroline Zabini seated in the row behind Cornelius and he said, “Ah, Caroline, what a pleasure to see you here.”</p><p>“Hello Lucius,” Caroline said with a nod of her head.</p><p>“I must say that I’m rather shocked to see you here,” Lucius said.  “Whatever did you do to get tickets in the Top Box?”</p><p>A brief silence followed Lucius’ question and Caroline exchanged a momentary glance with Cornelius.  The two of them were dating, but, Cornelius didn’t really want it getting out due to Caroline’s reputation as a black widow.  So, Caroline said, “Suffice it to say that you’re not the only one with the means to make donations to charity, Lucius.”</p><p>Lucius nodded at that and anybody with half a brain could tell that he didn’t believe Caroline for a second that she had given any of her money to charity and got rewarded with seats in the Top Box as he had, but being a gentleman, he decided to let the matter drop.</p><p>Lucius glanced around the box, his eyes falling on Athena, Emma, and the boys, but as he did not recognize them, he didn’t bother to say anything to them.  Why bother talking with people who you most likely will never see again after all?  Not that Athena and Emma were about to complain about being ignored by Lucius, because neither woman particularly liked him.  Narcissa was a good enough woman, probably too good for the likes of Lucius, but there was nothing they could do about that.  As for Draco, both Athena and Emma knew him well, though he certainly wouldn’t recognize them as they currently looked.</p><p>At this point, Ludo Bagman entered the Box and greeted everyone, starting with the Minister and ending with Roger or ‘Erik’ as he was being introduced as.</p><p>“Is everyone ready?”  Ludo asked, obviously excited.</p><p>“Ready when you are, Ludo,” Cornelius said.</p><p>Placing the tip of his wand against his throat, Ludo said, “&lt;i&gt;<em>Sonorus&lt;/i&gt;</em>!” and began speaking over all the voices filling the loud stadium.  “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the one hundred and thirty-first Quidditch World Cup!”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Later that night, after a hearty meal, the four boys retired to bed.  Harry was still amazed by the interior of the tent.  It looked like a Muggle tent from the outside, but from the inside it was a smaller replica of Athena’s house, except on one floor and some of the rooms were missing.</p><p>Harry was sound asleep when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking it urgently.  As he began to wake, he heard Cedric saying, “Come on, Harry, wake up.”</p><p>“Why?”  Harry asked in a sleepy voice.</p><p>“Something is wrong,” Cedric said.  “Athena says we need to get out of camp immediately.”</p><p>As Harry began to come to his senses, he realized that the sounds of people celebrating Ireland’s victory had now been replaced with the sounds of screaming.  Harry quickly got out of bed and took the jacket that Cedric was holding out.</p><p>“You’re both fine as you are,” Athena said as she poked her head into the room to see the two boys standing there in their pajamas.  “Just put jackets on and come outside and be quick about it!”</p><p>Cedric and Harry quickly put their jackets on and left the room to find Athena, Emma, Roger, and Blaise in the main room of the tent.  Athena quickly re-cast the charms to disguise the boys, before ushering them out of the tent.  Once they were outside, they could see people running in all directions, screaming, as a large group of wizards wearing black hoods and masks marched through the campground.</p><p>“We’re going to help the Ministry wizards,” Emma said.  “Dylan, Erik, take Andreas and Andrew, run into the forest and hide.  I want you to stick together like glue, until everything is sorted out and Athena and I come to get you.  Do you understand?”</p><p>“Yes,” Cedric and Roger said in unison, as Roger took Blaise’s hand and Cedric took Harry’s.  The four of them then started running towards the forest, while Athena and Emma took out their wands and marched towards the strange group torturing the Roberts family.</p><p>Harry followed Cedric into the forest, not that he had much choice considering the death grip that the older boy had on his hand.  Not that Harry really blamed him, because the forest was very dark and the screaming from the camp wasn’t doing anyone’s peace of mind any good.</p><p>Finally, after they had run a good two-hundred yards from the camp, Roger and Cedric stopped to catch their breath.  Normally, Harry would have lit his wand so that he could see, but unfortunately, he didn’t have one anymore.</p><p>All four boys had been making progress in their lessons with Eudora, but so far, the only spells they’d worked on were Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, Reparo and the Flashing Paint charm.  They probably would have been further by now, but it was harder to learn the spells without a wand because learning to target them was hard enough, let alone dealing with the greater amount of their own magic necessary to cast the spell.</p><p>Eudora explained to them that one of the things a wand did was to lessen the amount of a wizard or witch’s own magic needed to cast spells – to the point that only half the necessary amount of magic actually came from the caster’s core, the other half was from their wand’s core element.  That was why most wizards and witches didn’t bother with Wandless Magic, because the number of spells they could cast before needing to rest was greatly reduced.</p><p>Eudora further explained, however, that once a person masters Wandless Magic, there were other forms of magic that could be mastered.  Forms that would make the caster’s spells more powerful and last longer then they would ever think possible.  The only problem was that when using these other forms of magic, the wand core actually acted as a buffer and lessened the potency of the magic.</p><p>“What’s going on?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Death Eaters,” Roger answered.  “Death Eaters are attacking the camp.”</p><p>“Why?”  Blaise asked.  “You-Know-Who has been gone for years.  Why attack such a public event?  You’d have to be crazy what with all the Ministry wizards here.”</p><p>“That’s true,” Cedric agreed.  “My guess is that some of the former Death Eaters got drunk while celebrating Ireland’s win and decided to have some fun.”</p><p>“Fun?”  Harry asked.  “Maybe I’m crazy, but what they were doing did not look like fun to me.  Just because they’re Muggles does not mean that they deserve to be woken up in the middle of the night and treated like that.”</p><p>“I agree with you, Harry,” Roger said.</p><p>“So do I,” Cedric added.</p><p>After a few more minutes in the dark, a light could be seen coming in their direction.  The boys were about to take off running again when a familiar voice called out, “Andrew, Andreas, Erik, Dylan where are you?”</p><p>“We’re over here,” Cedric said, as the light got closer, until finally the boys realized it was coming from Kirk’s wand.</p><p>“Athena and Emma sent me to find you four,” Kirk said.  “They realized too late that none of you had wands and you didn’t know how to do the Lumos spell wandless yet.”</p><p>Before anyone could say anything else, there was a flurry of movement a few feet away and a shout of, “&lt;i&gt;<em>MORSMORDRE&lt;/i&gt;</em>!”</p><p>Seconds after the spell was cast, the boys saw the form of a man with black hair retreating into the nearby forest.  Kirk tried to aim his wand and disable the retreating form, but he tripped on a protruding tree root and lost his balance.  Cedric was quick to help his brother and prevent him from falling, but it was too late – the caster was gone.</p><p>A bright green light shot up from the darkness into the sky, illuminating the whole area as the light climbed higher and higher, over the tree line.  As it got higher, Harry could see that it looked like a collection of small green stars, except that they were in the shape of a giant skull, with a snake coming out of its mouth.</p><p>“What is that?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“The Dark Mark,” Kirk answered and he was obviously scared.  “You-Know-Who’s symbol.  I honestly hoped I’d never see it again.”</p><p>“You’ve seen it before?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Kirk answered.  “It was during the war.  I was five, almost six at the time.  You were only a month old, Rick.  We lived in a different house at the time and the village was attacked by You-Know-Who’s Death Eaters.  The village was razed to the ground and that symbol was burning just as brightly in the sky that night as it is now.  The Death Eaters always used the symbol when they killed.  Many innocent people were killed that night, some in their beds, having been killed in their sleep and others died fighting the Death Eaters.  In fact, that was the same night that Gideon and Fabian Prewett died.”</p><p>“Who are Gideon and Fabian Prewett?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“Charlie’s uncles,” Kirk answered.  “His mum’s brothers.”</p><p>Everyone just stood there for several seconds, quiet, as they looked up at the skull in the sky.  What did it mean?  Was You-Know-Who back?  Did someone just want to scare everyone at the Cup and had done it as some kind of sick prank?</p><p>After a few moments of silence, Kirk shook his head and said, “Athena told me to tell you all to tap your rings.”</p><p>The boys tore their eyes away from the sky at this and tapped the rings on their fingers.  Within seconds, four pops sounded nearby as Athena, Emma, Rose, and Eudora Apparated into the area.</p><p>“I’ll come and collect the equipment in the morning,” Athena said.  “Right now, I just want to get you boys back home where it’s safe.”</p><p>Athena wrapped her arms around Harry, Eudora took Cedric, Rose took Roger, Emma took Blaise, and four pops were again heard as the four trainers Side-Along-Apparated out of the area with their students.  A moment later, there was a fifth pop, as Kirk also Apparated.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>To be continued.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Author’s Note: This story assumes that there are 26 seats in the Top Box of the Quidditch World Cup Stadium.  Goblet of Fire said “about twenty”, which could mean more or less.  I realize that 26 might be pushing it a bit, but this story is AU anyway, so, it doesn’t need to conform perfectly to canon.</p><p>I also corrected the part where Ludo welcomes everyone to the Cup.  Seeing as how JKR wrote in Quidditch Through the Ages that the first World Cup was held in 1473 and then every four years after that, it has only taken place 131 times by 1994 and not the 422 times that JKR wrote in Goblet of Fire.  Of course, the Cup should have been in 1993 and not 1994, but oh well.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unexpected Love<br/>By J.C. Vascardi</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Chapter Five</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>September first came and went and the boys knew that all of their friends were now at Hogwarts, attending their classes, as they would be if Athena and the other trainers hadn’t come to collect them over the summer.  Though they missed their friends, none of them were missing Hogwarts overly much – especially considering that they were still having classes.  Of course, their classes now were about things that were not taught at Hogwarts, so, in a way, it was more interesting and kind of fun in a way to know that here they were only a few miles from Hogwarts learning things that all of their friends would probably never learn.</p><p>Eudora continued to teach the boys Wandless Magic and she was pleased with the boys’ progress – they were each now close to mastering all of the spells taught during the first year of Hogwarts.  It might seem like a small amount of progress, but, all of the boys now understood very well why most witches and wizards never bothered with Wandless Magic – it really was much harder, not to mention tiring.</p><p>Athena had begun teaching the boys some simple cooking and cleaning charms.  She said that she would be teaching them other, more advanced forms of magic later that had nothing to do with domestic work, but they needed to master the art of casting all of the spells normally taught during the seven years at Hogwarts wandlessly before they would be sufficiently trained enough to continue with the more advanced studies.  Rose, too, said she would have more advanced things to teach the boys at a later date, but for now she was teaching them simple healing spells, along with a few simple gardening spells.</p><p>Blaise had been a little difficult at first, as he didn’t really want to learn cooking charms and the like, because he said that was what house-elves were for.  Athena was patient with him, however, and eventually made him see her viewpoint on the matter – that in order to become a wizard, more powerful than he ever dreamed possible, it would mean rigorous study and it also meant that he would need a good understanding of all kinds of magic.  She also informed him and the others that, eventually, they would each have to pick one or two areas of magic to specialize in, so the trainers needed them to learn as much as possible now, so that they could better assess where each of their charges’ individual strengths lied.</p><p>On the morning of the seventeenth of September, the boys came downstairs to find the kitchen of the cottage festively decorated with balloons and streamers in practically every color imaginable, along with a large sign with the words, “Happy Seventeenth, Cedric.”</p><p>“I take it today is your birthday?” Blaise asked as he looked at the decorations.</p><p>“Yes,” Cedric confirmed with a smile.  “I’m finally seventeen.”</p><p>“Happy birthday, Cedric,” Harry and Roger said at almost the same time, which caused them to smile at one another.</p><p>“Yes, Cedric,” Athena said as she walked into the room.  “Congratulations are definitely in order.  It’s not everyday that you hit such an important milestone.”</p><p>“So, what’s on the training schedule for today?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“Nothing,” Athena answered.  “The other trainers and I discussed it and we’re pleased with the progress that all of you are making and thought it wouldn’t set any of you too far back to give you all the day off for Cedric’s birthday.”</p><p>“Cool,” Cedric said with a grin.</p><p>“Well, now, Roger, Blaise, Harry, why don’t you help me make breakfast?” Athena asked.</p><p>“What about Cedric?”  Blaise asked.  “Doesn’t he have to help?”</p><p>“No, he doesn’t, not on his special day.”</p><p>“I really don’t mind helping,” Cedric offered.</p><p>“Nonsense, young man,” Athena said.  “Today is your birthday, so no work for you and that’s final.  Now sit your butt down at the table.  The rest of us can handle making breakfast and, Blaise, before you complain you’ll get the same treatment when your birthday comes around.”</p><p>Blaise groaned and said, “But that’s not until May!”</p><p>“You’ll just have to wait then, won’t you?”  Athena asked.  “Now, stop complaining and start cutting up some fruit - unless, of course, you’d rather clean out the barn, alone and with no magic, for the next three weeks?”</p><p>Grimacing at the thought of having to clean out the barn all by himself, Blaise decided not to say another word, as he walked over to the kitchen table, grabbed the bowl of fresh fruit, and took it over to the nearby counter to start cutting it.  He would never admit it aloud, but he kind of enjoyed doing it, as he had always enjoyed Potions class, and cutting up the fruit kind of reminded him of cutting up potions ingredients.  Of course, the fruit was also quite a bit more appetizing than most potions ingredients.</p><p>“Now that that’s settled, Roger, dear, could you go out to the barn and get some milk?  I’m sure Shayla and Esmerelle are more than ready,” Athena said, as Roger nodded his head, before he grabbed the wooden yoke and buckets that were next to the door and headed for the barn.</p><p>Milking cows was not something any of the boys had imagined would be included in their training, but Athena told them that they needed their strength and that meant drinking plenty of milk.  She also used a bit of guilt, saying that she was an old lady and it was only right that the strapping young boys took care of milking the cows, because the milk buckets were heavy when full.  Cedric, Roger, and Harry chose not to point out the fact that Athena could easily levitate the full buckets back to the house, because they knew that she was just trying to teach them responsibility, while also getting out of doing some of the more menial tasks herself.  Blaise, on the other hand, did point that out, but Athena acted like she hadn’t heard him and eventually he simply got tired of being ignored.</p><p>“And, Harry, dear, could you go out to the coop and get some eggs?”  Athena asked.</p><p>“Sure,” Harry said with a smile as he grabbed the basket that was used to collect eggs and headed out to the chicken coop, as Athena began to get the various pots, pans and other utensils she would need ready.</p><p>Meanwhile, Cedric sat at the table, and watched for awhile, before he excused himself and went up to the bedroom he shared with Harry.  Walking over to his desk, he unlocked the bottom drawer and pulled out his sketch pad and pencils.  From a very young age, Cedric had always enjoyed drawing, so, during the trip to Diagon Alley, Cedric made sure to stock up on empty sketch pads and pencils.  Wizarding sketch pads were a bit different from Muggle sketch pads in that once you finished the sketch, you could use a charm to make your sketches come to life like photographs, but Cedric rarely did, preferring to keep his sketches immobile.  This was mainly because despite the fact that many people over the years had told him that he was very talented, he never seemed to be totally happy with most of his sketches and once they were made mobile, making changes became impossible.</p><p>Sitting down at his desk, Cedric opened his pad to the sketch he’d been working on lately.  It was of a young boy with messy black hair and a distinctive scar on his forehead.  Cedric sighed and set to work, trying to capture Harry’s likeness as well as he possibly could.  He wasn’t really sure what had inspired him to sketch Harry, but for some reason that he didn’t understand, he felt that he needed to do it and that he needed to do it perfectly.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Later that afternoon, Cedric found himself on his new Firebolt, searching the skies for the Snitch.  He’d always enjoyed flying and it felt good to have a day off from the arduous training schedule that he and the other boys had been enduring for the last few months.  They had four-hour classes with Eudora on Wandless Magic every Monday through Friday, plus an hour with Athena learning domestic magic, and an hour with Rose learning healing and gardening magic.</p><p>As for their fourth trainer, Emma, she was a bit of a mystery.  Thus far, she had yet to teach the boys a class on anything.  They also couldn’t help but notice that Emma spent several hours a day away from the cottage and that she oftentimes did not sleep at the cottage.  Where she was during this time, Cedric could only guess.</p><p>Lost in his thoughts, Cedric became oblivious to the world around him until he was shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of Kirk’s shouted warning of, “Cedric, watch out!”</p><p>Quickly looking around, Cedric ducked just in time to avoid getting hit in the head with a Bludger.  Kirk flew over to his brother’s side and asked, “Are you okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine, Kirk, thanks.”</p><p>“Try to keep your mind on the game, bro,” Kirk said with a smile.  “We’re leading right now but if Harry gets the Snitch first, we’re sunk.”</p><p>“Will do, bro,” Cedric said with a smile and then noticing a glint of gold, Cedric said, “See ya,” before zooming off after the Snitch.</p><p>Harry was clear on the other side of the pitch when he noticed Cedric flying as fast as he could with his hand outstretched.  Harry wasn’t about to tell his teammates, but he decided he was going to let Cedric get the Snitch this time because it was his birthday. But, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to make it seem like being away from Hogwarts had somehow destroyed his ability to Seek, so, within seconds of noticing Cedric’s pursuit, Harry was hot in the older boy’s tail.  The two of them were soon neck and neck, both of their hands outstretched, and finally, Cedric turned his head and grinned at Harry briefly, before he closed his fingers around the small golden ball.</p><p>Emma blew her whistle and said, “Cedric Diggory has caught the Snitch!  The green team wins, with a score of 250 to 70.”</p><p>Landing with a big smile on his face, Cedric’s teammates, which this time consisted of Kirk and Charlie as Chasers, Roger as Keeper and Michelle as Beater, ran over to congratulate him on catching the Snitch and securing their victory.  Harry and the others soon came over and congratulated Cedric and the green team for their win.  Although, as pretty much everyone expected, Blaine and Blaise did not look very happy to be on the losing team.</p><p>Shortly thereafter, Molly stepped out of the cottage and yelled over to everyone that dinner was ready.  Stowing their brooms and jerseys in the small equipment shed in the barn, Blaine, Kirk, and Bill quickly cast Cleaning Charms on everyone to get rid of the scent of sweat.  Once everyone was moderately clean, as clean as was possible without showering, everyone headed into the house for dinner.</p><p>“Here you go, Cedric,” Athena said with a smile as she stood behind the chair at the head of the table – the one she normally sat in.</p><p>“That’s your seat,” Cedric protested.</p><p>“Not today, so don’t argue,” Athena said.</p><p>If there was one thing that all four of the boys had learned within hours of beginning their training it was that it was impossible to win an argument with Athena, because she would make sure she always got the last word.  So, Cedric did as he was told and sat down at the head of the table.</p><p>“Wow, you made all of my favorites,” Cedric said as he looked at all the food spread out along the long wooden table.</p><p>“Of course, we did, dear,” Molly said with a smile, as she sat down between Charlie and Bill on one of the benches that ran along both sides of the table.  There had originally been eight chairs around the table, but with so many frequent dinner guests, only two remained on either end of the table, and the others had been replaced with long wooden benches.  “It’s your birthday, after all, and a very special one at that.”</p><p>“I’m not really one for speeches,” Cedric said, “so, I just want to say thank you to all of you for making this a great birthday.  Now, if all of this food tastes half as good as it looks and smells, I’d say we’re in for a real treat, so dig in.”</p><p>What followed was what can be expected when you gather a large group of people around a table full of food – lots of talking, lots of laughing, lots of eating, and a good time had by all.  Once everyone had eaten their fill, Emma said, “Okay, Athena, Eudora, Rose, Molly, and I can handle cleaning up.  The rest of you can go upstairs and do whatever you young people like to do.  Within reason, of course, because I’d just like to remind you that none of you and that includes the six of you,” she looked at Phillip, Michelle, Kirk, Charlie, Bill, and Blaine, “are too old for me to take over my knee.  Now go.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Arriving in the upstairs sitting room, Phillip asked, “Your trainers certainly are strict, aren’t they?”</p><p>“Oh, don’t worry, bro,” Roger said.  “Emma talks tough, but she’s actually quite nice.  Now, if that had been Athena who had said that, then you would have cause to worry.”</p><p>“From what I’ve seen,” Michelle said as she came over and wrapped her arm around her husband, “I don’t doubt that for a second.”</p><p>“So, what should we do to pass the time now?”  Charlie asked.</p><p>“Well, it is Cedric’s birthday,” Kirk said.  “I think we should let him choose.”</p><p>“Gee, thanks, for putting me in the hot seat, Kirk,” Cedric said.</p><p>“Anytime, bro,” Kirk said with a grin.</p><p>Cedric thought for a few minutes and then said, “Well, how about Truth or Dare?”</p><p>“That works,” Michelle said with a smile.</p><p>“It’s fine by me,” Bill said.</p><p>“Works for me,” Charlie added, as Phillip, Blaine, Blaise, Harry, and Roger all shook their heads in agreement.</p><p>“Whatever the birthday boy wants,” Kirk said.  “So, now we should all agree on some ground rules.”</p><p>After some discussion, everyone agreed to keep the truth questions appropriate for all ages, considering the age gap between the two youngest players, fourteen-year-old Harry and Blaise, and the two eldest players, twenty-three-year-old Bill and Blaine.  Dares were limited to nothing that was overly embarrassing and the most sexual anything was allowed to get was kissing someone, with no tongue action allowed.  The removal of clothing was also strictly forbidden.  Everyone also agreed that nobody was allowed to skate through the entire game taking only truth questions, because where’s the fun in that?  So, it was agreed upon that if someone took two consecutive truth questions, they had to take a dare on their next turn, no ifs, ands, or buts.</p><p>When it came time to decide the turn order, Cedric suggested that Michelle go first, since she was the only girl, but he agreed to go with the majority in that he should go first since it was his birthday, followed by Blaise, Blaine, Roger, Phillip, Harry, Bill, Michelle, Charlie, and finally Kirk, before it was again Cedric’s turn.</p><p>“Okay, Rick, truth or dare?”  Kirk asked his brother with a grin on his face.</p><p>“I’m not sure I like the look on your face,” Cedric said.  “So, I’ll go with truth because I don’t trust you in the dare department.”</p><p>“Oh, Rick, I’m hurt,” Kirk said in a mock hurt voice.  “Okay, let’s see here, truth question. Hmm, okay, have you ever had any romantic involvement with a friend's significant other? Who was it, and when? What happened?”</p><p>“Oh sweet Merlin, start off hard why don’t you?  Yes, I kissed my friend Sean’s girlfriend, Liz, once.  It was after a party last year to celebrate Hufflepuff’s Quidditch victory over Gryffindor.  Someone spiked the punch and Liz and I kissed right in front of Sean.  Not that he was angry, because we were all drunk and after Liz and I kissed and she said I was a good kisser, he decided to find out for himself.  That’s it for that incident.  So, let’s move on, Blaise, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Truth,” Blaise answered after a second of thought.</p><p>“Hmm, what would you do if you were alone at night, in a jungle, with your dream guy or girl?”</p><p>“Find the nearest five-star hotel and show them the time of their lives,” Blaise answered, choosing not to reveal whether his dream date would be a guy or a girl.  “Then, after they were asleep, I’d Floo-call my travel agent and fire him.  Blaine, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Well, I’ve always been the adventurous type,” Blaine said.  “Dare.”</p><p>“Hmm,” Blaise said as he thought for a moment – the look on his face getting more mischievous by the second.  “Can someone with a wand conjure up a pair of dice, please?”</p><p>Bill was the first to pull out his wand.  With a quick swish and flick and some muttered words, a pair of black and white dice appeared in front of Blaise.</p><p>“Thank you, Bill,” Blaise said as he picked them up and rolled them.  They both landed on six.  “Okay, well, since Bill conjured the dice for me, Blaine, I dare you to let Bill put twelve ice cubes in any part of your clothing he wants.”</p><p>Blaine remained silent for a moment and one could tell he was trying to think of a way to get out of doing the dare.  He finally said, “We don’t have any ice cubes.”</p><p>“Oh that isn’t a problem,” Cedric said.  “I know for a fact that both Charlie and Kirk are very good with water and ice spells.  They come in handy when you work with creatures that breathe fire.”</p><p>Charlie grinned as he pulled out his wand and conjured up a tray of twelve ice cubes, which he then handed to Bill with a smile.  Bill gave Blaine a look that said, “Sorry,” before he took one of the cubes and dropped it down the front of Blaine’s tucked in shirt.  Blaine shivered and said, “Oh that’s cold.  Oh I am so going to get you for this little brother,” as Bill dropped another ice cube, this time down the back of Blaine’s shirt.  Blaine continued to shiver as Bill placed two more ice cubes down the front of his shirt and two more down the back.</p><p>Blaise laughed as Blaine’s teeth began chattering and he said, “Oh come on, Bill, don’t put them all down his shirt.”</p><p>“Oh fine,” Bill said as he grabbed two more ice cubes and instead of putting them down Blaine’s shirt, he instead reached around and placed them down the back of Blaine’s khaki trousers. Grabbing the ninth cube, Bill lifted the hem of the Blaine’s left trouser leg and then placed the cube inside his sock, repeating this with the right sock.  Down to only two ice cubes, Bill, who by this point also had a mischievous look on his face, looked at Blaise and said, “Well only two left.  Do you have any suggestions, Blaise?”</p><p>“Oh yeah,” Blaise said with an evil grin.  Blaine saw the look and instantly knew what his brother was thinking.  Cold from having ten ice cubes in his clothes, Blaine stuttered out, “N-no... no, B-Blaise, p-please, not t-there.”</p><p>“Sorry, bro, a dare is a dare,” Blaise said aloud before learning over to Bill and whispering in his ear.  Bill grinned and then grabbed the two remaining ice cubes and said, “I’m sorry, Blaine, I really am.”</p><p>“Y-yeah, r-right,” Blaine said.  “J-just g-get it over with.”</p><p>Bill took the cubes in one hand and then used the other hand to pull the top of Blaine’s trousers away from his stomach, before dropping the ice cubes in.  Blaine shuttered and said, “Oh M-Merlin, t-th-that’s c-c-cold.”</p><p>Everyone, other than Blaine, burst out laughing as Blaine continued to shiver for a few more minutes, before finally, Bill took pity on him and cast a Warming Charm on him to warm him up and a Drying Charm to dry the wet spots in his clothes from the melted ice.  Once Blaine had warmed up sufficiently to talk normally, he said, “Don’t think I won’t get you back somehow, little brother.  For now, Roger, truth or dare?”</p><p>“After watching that, I think I’ll go with truth,” Roger said.</p><p>“Fine, truth it is,” Blaine said.  “What are the sexiest clothes that you own? Describe them to the group.”</p><p>“Oh heavens,” Roger said, as he blushed ever so slightly.  “Well, I do have this pair of old jeans that I sometimes wear during the summer months away from Hogwarts.  I should have gotten rid of them, because they’re like two sizes too small, but I keep them because I kind of like the attention they give me – from both guys and girls – when I wear them.”</p><p>“Fair enough,” Blaine said.</p><p>“Phillip, truth or dare?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“Well, considering what Blaine’s brother did to him,” Phillip said and everyone laughed, “I think I’ll go with truth.”</p><p>“Imagine you are in the room with another couple when, unexpectedly, they begin going at it hot and heavy. What do you do?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“Oh Gods, you have a dirty mind, Roger,” Phillip said.</p><p>“What can I say?”  Roger asked, looking innocently at Phillip.  “I learned from the best.”</p><p>“What?”  Phillip asked.  “I resent that remark!  Anyway, as for what I would do, I would high tail it out of there to give them some privacy.”</p><p>“And?”  Roger asked.  “I know you well enough to know there’s more.”</p><p>“Fine, I’d high tail it out of there to give them some privacy, and I’d go find Michelle and get hot and heavy with her.  So, now, Harry, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Ah what the heck,” Harry said.  “I’m a Gryffindor; we’re supposed to be brave. Dare.”</p><p>“Hmm, roll the dice, Harry,” Phillip said.</p><p>Grabbing the dice from the rug in front of Blaise, Harry shook them in his hand a couple times before letting them go.  One landed on two and the other on one.</p><p>“Okay, you rolled a three,” Phillip said with a grin, as he pulled out his wand and conjured up three socks which he then held out towards Harry and said, “I dare you to stuff these into your shorts and leave them there until the game is over.”</p><p>Harry cocked his head to one side, before grinning and taking the socks from Phillip.  “Okay, well, that’s easy enough.  At least they’re not ice cubes.”</p><p>Standing up, Harry stuffed the three socks into his boxers, before sitting back down and asking, “Bill, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Well, I was a Gryffindor, too, so I guess I should be brave, too,” Bill said with a grin.  “Dare.”</p><p>Harry thought for a moment and then said, “Well, I imagine Blaine would love the chance to get some payback for you putting all those ice cubes in his clothes.”</p><p>Blaine nodded and Bill began to look a little scared, as Harry continued, “Bill, I dare you to tell the group what part of your body is the most ticklish and then let Blaine tickle you for a minute, while the rest of us hold you down.”</p><p>“Harry, you would do this to a fellow Gryffindor?”  Bill asked.</p><p>Harry just grinned at Bill, who groaned, and said, “My most ticklish place is my arm.”</p><p>“Liar!” Charlie exclaimed.  “You know very well that it’s your stomach.  Auntie Muriel used to tickle you there all the time when you were little.”</p><p>Bill looked at Charlie and said, “You traitor, I’m your brother!”</p><p>“So?  Seems to me someone forgot to send me a birthday present last year, so, this is payback.”  Charlie said with a smug grin on his face.</p><p>“Fine, let’s get this over with,” Bill said as he lay flat on the rug and everyone gathered around and grabbed his arms and legs to hold him down, while Blaine got a wicked grin on his face.  Pulling out his wand, Blaine conjured up a pair of large feathers, causing Bill to exclaim, “Hey, no fair!”</p><p>“What’s not fair about it?”  Blaine asked.  “Harry never said I had to use my fingers, did you, Harry?”</p><p>“Nope, I didn’t,” Harry confirmed.  “You can do this anyway you like, Blaine.”</p><p>“Thank you, Harry,” Blaine said with a wide grin, as he knelt beside Bill and pulled his shirt up to reveal the red-head’s chiseled six-pack abs.  “I don’t think the feathers on the shirt would be very effective, but feathers on bare flesh?  Much better, I think.”</p><p>What followed was the longest minute of Bill’s life, as Blaine mercilessly tickled him with the two feathers, driving him to start laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes and he was soon begging for mercy that he knew wasn’t going to come until the minute was up. After one minute was up, Blaine banished the feathers and everyone let go of Bill, as he took a few moments to recover.  When he got a handle on his laughter, he looked at Harry mutinously and said, “I don’t know how yet, but I’ll get you back for that, Harry.”</p><p>“Yeah, whatever,” Harry said with a good-natured smile.</p><p>Bill just shook his head and said, “All right, Michelle, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Truth,” Michelle said without a moment’s hesitation.</p><p>“Hmm, have you ever bitten your toenails?” Bill asked.</p><p>“What? No! That’s a bloody sick question, Bill,” Michelle answered.</p><p>“She does bite her fingernails though,” Phillip volunteered.</p><p>“Phillip!” Michelle exclaimed.  “Oh just wait until I get you home, Mr. Davies.”</p><p>“Uh-oh, I’m in trouble,” Phillip said.</p><p>“Yes, you are.  More than you could possibly imagine.  Now, Charlie, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Well, I guess I’ll be brave like the other Gryffindors,” Charlie said.  “Dare.”</p><p>“Okay, then, Charlie,” Michelle said.  “What you did to Bill really wasn’t very nice.”</p><p>“Oh Merlin, here it comes,” Charlie said.</p><p>Michelle pulled out her wand and conjured up a frozen steak and said, “I dare you to hold this on your stomach, your bare flesh that is, until your next turn.”</p><p>“No problem,” Charlie said as he took the steak from Michelle, lifted up his shirt and placed the steak on his stomach.  “If I can deal with an angry, pregnant Hungarian Horntail, I can certainly deal with this.”</p><p>“How’s it feel?” Cedric asked.</p><p>“It’s cold, but I can handle it,” Charlie said. “Kirk, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Hey, wait a minute,” Blaise said.  “Why didn’t we think of this before when we were deciding the turn order?  We can’t let Charlie pick Kirk’s truth questions or dares!  They’re a couple; Charlie will go easy on Kirk, won’t he?”</p><p>“Hmm, you do have a point, Blaise,” Bill said. “How about we let Michelle pick Kirk’s first question or dare and then next round she goes after Charlie and before Kirk, instead of after Bill and before Charlie?”</p><p>“Works for me,” Michelle said.  Considering what Michelle had just done to Charlie, both Kirk and Charlie voted no on the turn change, but they were outvoted when the other players all voted yes.  Michelle then asked, “So, Kirk, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Truth,” Kirk said.</p><p>“Okay, Kirk, if you could make out with three people, one right after the other, who would be first? Who would be last, and who would get stuck in the middle? And you can pick Charlie as one of them, but not all three of them.”</p><p>“Hmm, you want me to pick three people in this room or random people?”  Kirk asked.</p><p>Michelle hadn’t thought of that, but she got a mischievous look on her face and said, “Three people in this room.”</p><p>“Well, then, first I would have to say Phillip, to get back at you for asking me this question.  Then I’d say Cedric, because he’s my brother and as such I assume he’s a good kisser, not as good as me, but that’s beside the point. Finally, last, but not least, I’d say Charlie because I have to save the best for last.”</p><p>“Good answer, honey,” Charlie said with a wide grin on his face, before he kissed Kirk on the cheek.</p><p>“Thanks, love,” Kirk said as he took Charlie’s hand and kissed it.  “Now, I believe we’re back to Cedric now, so truth or dare, bro?”</p><p>“Hmm, well, I know it means I’ll have to take a dare on my next turn, but I’ll say truth again,” Cedric answered.</p><p>“Okay, bro, did you ever have a boyfriend or girlfriend cheat on you, but you knew the whole time? What happened?”</p><p>“Nothing happened, because if I knew that my significant other was cheating on me, I would dump them.  Perhaps that’s the Hufflepuff in me, but I think loyalty is very important and I don’t think cheating on your boyfriend or girlfriend is right under any circumstances.”</p><p>“Well, as a fellow Hufflepuff, I’m inclined to agree,” Kirk said with a smile.</p><p>“So, Blaise, truth or dare?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“Oh what the hell, I’ll say dare this time,” Blaise answered.</p><p>“Last time I played this game with my year mates,” Cedric said, “one of them dared another to take a mirror and kiss their reflection for ten seconds.  However, to make things more interesting, Blaise, I dare you to kiss Blaine for ten seconds, since you two are like reflections of each other anyway.”</p><p>Blaise gave Cedric a dirty look before he got up on his haunches, crawled over to Blaine, and kissed him on the lips until Cedric called time.  When it was over, Blaine grinned and said, “As much as I’d rather not do that again, I must admit, he’s a good kisser, but then I’m a good kisser, and he’s my clone, so how could he not be?”</p><p>“Full of yourself much?” Phillip asked and everyone else laughed.</p><p>“Okay, Blaine, truth or dare?”  Blaise asked after he returned to his place.</p><p>“I think I’ll take truth this time,” Blaine answered.</p><p>“Did you ever think that someone you knew was an alien or might have actually been abducted? What made you think that?” Blaise asked.</p><p>“Well, actually, now that you mention it,” Blaine said, “when I was younger, I actually thought you were an alien, Blaise.  I was only nine when you were born and Mum never actually told me that she cloned me to make you, so, as you got older, looking exactly like I did at that age, I thought you were an alien.  I don’t think it was until I was like 16 that Mum finally deigned to tell me the truth.”</p><p>Blaise remained quiet for a minute, before he nodded and said, “Yeah, that sounds like something Mum would do.”</p><p>“Yeah, she’s always been a secretive woman,” Blaine said.</p><p>“Except in her preference for older, rich men who have one foot in the grave,” Blaise added.  “That’s never been a secret.”</p><p>“True,” Blaine agreed.  “Okay, Roger, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Dare,” Roger said.</p><p>“Okay,” Blaine said with a grin as he took out his wand and cast a charm to make it spin around in mid-air.  “I dare you to kiss whoever my wand is pointing at when it stops for two minutes.”</p><p>“Okay, I guess, I can do that,” Roger said, as he thought, “Please, please, please don’t stop on Phillip.”</p><p>Everyone watched the wand spin for a minute, before it began to slow down and finally came to a stop pointing at Blaise.  Roger grinned and said, “Well at least I don’t have to kiss my brother.”</p><p>Roger crawled over to Blaise and turned his head slightly, before moving in and kissing the younger boy on the lips.  As the kiss continued, Blaise was obviously enjoying himself, because he soon put his hand on the back of Roger’s neck, pulling him a little bit closer.  When the two minutes were finally up, Roger and Blaise seemed oblivious to Blaine telling them they could stop.  It wasn’t until Blaine used his wand to shoot a blast of cold water at them that they finally stopped and looked at Blaine angrily.  Blaine just shrugged and said, “You two looked like you needed a cold shower, so I was only too happy to oblige, especially after the ice cubes, Blaise.”</p><p>“Okay, I guess I had that coming,” Blaise said.  “Just so you know though, Blaine, Roger is a far better kisser than you are.”</p><p>Blaine scoffed at that, before Roger asked, “Phillip, truth or dare?”</p><p>“Oh what the hell,” Phillip said.  “Dare.”</p><p>Roger grinned and said, “I dare you to go into the bathroom and move all of your underwear to the outside of your clothes and leave them there until the game is over.”</p><p>“Roger that would require me to take my clothes off,” Phillip said.  “Need I remind you that we all agreed that was against the rules?”</p><p>“No,” Roger said.  “That’s why I told you to go into the bathroom and do it.  You won’t be undressing in front of any of us and you’ll still be fully clothed when you come out.”</p><p>“I don’t think that breaks the rules,” Bill said.</p><p>“Neither do I,” Charlie added, as everyone other than Phillip, agreed.</p><p>“Et tu, Michelle?”  Phillip asked with a betrayed look on his face.</p><p>“Sorry, honey, but it’s too funny to vote against,” Michelle said with a grin.</p><p>“Oh fine,” Phillip said as he stood up.  Before heading into the bathroom in Roger and Blaise’s shared bedroom, he asked, “Do socks count?  Because I think it’d be rather hard to put them on over my shoes.”</p><p>“You can leave out the socks,” Roger said.</p><p>Phillip went into the bathroom and did as the dare required him to do.  After a few minutes, he came back out, wearing a pair of blue and white plaid boxer shorts over his black jeans and an athletic t-shirt over his blue sweater.  Everyone else burst out laughing because it just looked so funny to see someone wearing their underwear over their clothes. Sitting back down, Phillip looked at Roger and said, “You’ll pay for this, bro.”</p><p>“Whatever you say, Phillip,” Roger said with a grin.</p><p>Phillip sighed and said, “Harry, truth or dare?”</p><p>Deciding it was probably best to avoid truth questions, Harry said, “Dare.”</p><p>“Hmm, okay, Harry, I dare you to kiss any two people here,” Phillip said.  “You can trade off or kiss them both at once, but you must kiss both people for at least two minutes each.”</p><p>“You’re cruel, Phillip,” Harry said with a grin.  “Um, I don’t know who to choose, can we do the spinning wand thing again?”</p><p>Phillip thought about it for a moment and then shrugged.  “Sure, I guess that’s okay, but, Harry, you’ll have to stand to one side because we can’t have it picking you,” he said as he pulled out his wand and cast the same charm Blaine had used earlier to make his wand spin around.</p><p>Everyone watched as the wand spun, none more intently, however, than Harry because while a part of him was looking forward to it, another part was very nervous because this would be his first kiss with anybody and he hoped he wouldn’t make a total fool of himself.  Finally, the wand slowed down and stopped – pointing at none other than Phillip himself.</p><p>“Ah drat,” Phillip said.  “Okay, I guess I’m one of the two people you’ll have to kiss, Harry, but let’s see who the other one is, shall we?”</p><p>Setting his wand spinning again and then coming over to stand next to Harry so that he wouldn’t get picked again, everyone once again watched the spinning wand.  After a minute it slowed and stopped on Cedric.</p><p>Cedric got up and came over to where Phillip and Harry were standing and asked, “Okay, Harry, how do you want to do this?”</p><p>Thinking for a moment, Harry said, “Well, um, I think kissing you both at the same time would be a little hard, so I’ll kiss Phillip first.”</p><p>“Fine by me,” Cedric said with a smile.</p><p>Since Phillip was about two feet taller than Harry, he pulled one of the chairs away from the partner’s desks and sat down.  Harry then took a deep breath and came over to stand next to the chair before he leaned down ever so slightly and placed his lips on Phillip’s.</p><p>“Hmm, this isn’t so bad,” Harry thought as the kiss entered the one minute range.  “I hope I’m doing this right.”</p><p>“Well, he’s not as good as Michelle,” Phillip thought.  “But the boy does have some talent, I must admit.”</p><p>After another minute, Michelle, who had been keeping time, called out, “Okay, Harry, time’s up.  Get your lips off my husband.”</p><p>Harry pulled away from Phillip so fast you’d think that Phillip’s lips had burned him.  Phillip frowned and asked, “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”</p><p>Harry shook his head and said, “No, no, you were fine.  It’s just that... well, that’s the first time I’ve ever kissed anyone.”</p><p>“Oh, Harry, I’m sorry,” Phillip said with a genuine smile on his face.  “If I’d known that, I never would have made you do this.”</p><p>“Its okay, Phillip,” Harry said after a moment of silence.  “Actually, it was kind of nice, really.  I was kind of getting tired of being the only boy in my dorm, other than Neville, who’s never been kissed.”</p><p>“Well, then I’m glad I could be of help,” Phillip said with a grin.  “Now, if I’m not mistaken, you still have to kiss the birthday boy.”</p><p>“Yeah, I guess, I do,” Harry said with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face.  He saw Phillip fairly often, yes, but kissing Cedric was a bit more embarrassing since he shared a bedroom with him.</p><p>Cedric smiled at Harry and all of Harry’s nervousness and embarrassment melted away with that smile.  Harry honestly wasn’t sure what that meant, but he figured it was best not to dwell on that right now and get this dare over with.  Cedric sat down in the chair that Phillip vacated, at which point Harry came over and placed his lips on Cedric’s.</p><p>The second their lips touched, both boys felt something crackling like electricity through every nerve and blood vessel in their bodies.  The sensation was enough to make Harry go weak in the knees and he soon fell into Cedric’s lap, but their lips remained locked together, as they continued to kiss each other.  Despite having their mouths firmly closed, the passion with which the two boys were kissing was clear to everyone else in the room.  It was like a repeat of earlier in the night when Blaise and Roger kissed each other, only different somehow.</p><p>Cedric and Harry’s kiss continued for several minutes, much longer than the two minutes set by Phillip.  While kissing Harry, Cedric was overcome with a feeling of, well, he wasn’t sure how to explain it, as he’d never felt it before.  All he knew was that it felt really good and he never wanted it to end.  Cedric soon wrapped his arms around the younger boy and held him tight as he pulled him further into his lap.</p><p>Harry was having thoughts similar to Cedric’s, in that he really wasn’t sure what the strange feelings and sensations he was having were, but he knew that he liked them and that this was nothing like kissing Phillip.  Harry had felt very little emotion, other than perhaps embarrassment or even revulsion, knowing that he was kissing a married man.  But, something was definitely different with Cedric and he honestly didn’t want it to end, because it felt so good and he worried that if it ended, it would never happen again.</p><p>Finally, after nearly six minutes of watching their lip lock, Kirk came over and cast the spell that Blaine had used on Roger and Blaise earlier, but to no avail.  Despite having a jet of cold water dumped over their heads, Cedric and Harry just kept kissing and holding each other so tightly that it honestly looked to everyone else like Cedric and Harry had somehow merged so that they now shared the same body, only with two heads.</p><p>“Charlie, a little help here?” Kirk asked.</p><p>Pulling out his wand, Charlie pointed it at Harry’s back and said, “&lt;i&gt;<em>Petrificus Totalus!&lt;/i&gt;</em>”</p><p>With the person he was kissing now frozen and unresponsive, Cedric stopped the kiss and shook his head, as if coming to his senses.  This, in truth, is exactly what happened, because while he was kissing Harry, Cedric had lost all touch with the outside world.  He felt nothing except for the electrical sensations that were coursing through his body and if Charlie hadn’t frozen Harry, Cedric was sure that he probably would have continued to kiss the younger boy all night long.  That scared Cedric beyond measure because Harry certainly wasn’t the first person he’d kissed and he had never felt that way while kissing someone – like kissing them was the only thing that mattered and not even breathing was important anymore.</p><p>Cedric loosened his grip on Harry’s prone body and after the younger boy had been extricated from his arms, Cedric blushed redder than Bill’s and Charlie’s hair when he caught the looks from everyone else in the room.  Panicking and looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights, Cedric ran into his and Harry’s bedroom and locked the door.</p><p>“He’s my brother,” Kirk said after a minute.  “I’ll go talk to him.  Someone should perhaps unfreeze Harry and talk to him, too.  Probably in private, so he doesn’t feel so watched.”</p><p>“I’ll do it,” Bill said.  “I don’t know him all that well, but Mum thinks of him like a son, so as the eldest, I can feel my paternal instincts kicking in again.”</p><p>“Again?”  Blaine asked.</p><p>Bill nodded.  “Yeah, I may not have any kids of my own yet, but, I did help Mum and Dad raise all six of my siblings, so, it isn’t the first time I’ve had this paternal feeling.”</p><p>“You can use Blaise’s and my room,” Roger said as he pointed at the door to the right of the fireplace.</p><p>“Thanks, Roger,” Bill said as he picked up Harry’s prone body and carried him into the bedroom, figuring he’d unfreeze him after they were alone so that Harry would be spared the embarrassment of coming to with everyone else looking at him like Cedric had.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>“Cedric, are you okay?”  Kirk asked as he approached his brother’s bed.</p><p>Cedric was lying face down on his bed, with a pillow over his head, as if all he wanted to do was hide from the world.  He knew Kirk was talking to him, but he didn’t really want to see anyone right now because he was too embarrassed and upset to talk.  Of course, Cedric knew that Kirk wasn’t going to leave until they talked.  Kirk was like a dog with a bone in that respect – whenever someone he cared about was in pain, there’s no way he was going to just walk away.  Cedric felt his mattress move as Kirk sat down on the bed and he flinched as he felt Kirk’s hand come to rest on his back.</p><p>Kirk hadn’t heard it from the doorway, but now this close to his brother, the sound was unmistakable – Cedric was crying.  Kirk wasn’t sure why, but he was damn well going to find out.  But, first things first, he had to calm Cedric down, because he couldn’t stand to sit there and listen to the younger boy crying.</p><p>“Shh, Cedric, I’m here, it’s okay,” Kirk soothed as he began to gently rub his hand around in circles on Cedric’s back.</p><p>“No, it isn’t,” Cedric said weakly through his tears.  “Nothing will ever be okay again.”</p><p>The words were so soft that Kirk barely heard them, but he knew that if he pressed any further that Cedric might start yelling out of frustration and Kirk knew that his brother was embarrassed enough without having everyone in the sitting room hearing what was going on in here.  Stopping his ministrations on Cedric’s back, Kirk stood quietly and pulled out his wand.  Wordlessly, he began to cast the most powerful locking charms he knew on the door, as well as casting the strongest Silencing Charm he knew on the room.</p><p>Once that was done, Kirk sat back down on the bed and grabbed the pillow that Cedric was covering his face with.  Cedric tried to pull it back over his head, but Kirk was too quick for him and the pillow was thrown across the room, landing atop Harry’s bed.  Kirk then pulled Cedric up into a sitting position and wrapped his arms around him tightly, “Cedric, it’s okay, come on, I’m here, it’s okay.”</p><p>“NO IT ISN’T!  STOP SAYING THAT!  NOTHING WILL EVER BE OKAY EVER AGAIN!” Cedric screamed at the top of his lungs.</p><p>“Cedric, that’s not true,” Kirk said.  “What is wrong?  What’s gotten you so upset?”</p><p>“I should think that’s obvious,” Cedric said, much quieter this time.</p><p>“The kiss you shared with Harry?”  Kirk offered, assuming that had to be the cause of Cedric’s upset, although for the life of him, Kirk couldn’t understand why it would make Cedric so upset, because he seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit, unless...  In an instant, everything began to make sense to Kirk and it hit him like a ton of bricks why his brother was so upset.</p><p>“This is about Mum and Dad, isn’t it?”  Kirk asked.</p><p>At the mention of their parents, Cedric began sobbing so hard that it would have broken even the hardest of hearts to hear it.  Kirk tightened his grip on his brother, kissed the top of his head, and began to whisper calming sounds in his ear.</p><p>“Shh, Cedric, it’s okay,” Kirk said.  “It’s okay, really.”</p><p>“No it isn’t, damn it!” Cedric said between sobs.  “How can you of all people sit here and tell me that it’s okay when you know it’s not?”</p><p>Loosening his grip on his brother, Kirk grabbed Cedric’s face in his hand and forced him to look him in the eye as he said, “Cedric, listen to me.  It’s okay.  I’m here for you and I always will be.”</p><p>“Mum and Dad won’t be though,” Cedric said, as the tears continued to pour out of his gray eyes.  “You and I both know it.  As soon as they find out...”</p><p>Kirk sighed.  “Something happened when you kissed Harry, didn’t it?  You felt something, right?”</p><p>Cedric nodded.</p><p>“This isn’t the first time, is it?”</p><p>Again Cedric nodded.</p><p>“Has there been anyone other than Harry?”  Kirk asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Cedric answered weakly.  “But it wasn’t the same.  It felt good, sure, but nothing so strong before.  It made it easy for me to deny it.”</p><p>“Deny what?”  Kirk asked, even though he knew very well what Cedric was denying.</p><p>Cedric remained quiet for several minutes as he continued to cry.  With time, however, he began to calm down a bit.  Kirk suspected that it was only because he was running out of tears and that if he could, Cedric would continue crying all night.</p><p>“My feelings,” Cedric said softly after a moment.  “I tried so hard, Kirk, really I did.  I started dating this Ravenclaw girl, Cho, and we slept together, but oh Gods, I had to think of someone else in order to perform.  What is wrong with me?”</p><p>“Nothing is wrong with you, Cedric,” Kirk said fiercely.  “You hear me?  Nothing is wrong with you.”</p><p>“That’s not what Mum and Dad would say,” Cedric said.</p><p>“Well, Mum and Dad are bloody idiots!”  Kirk exclaimed.  “Honestly, Cedric, there is nothing wrong with you.”</p><p>“Kirk, I’m... I’m... gay,” Cedric said after a moment.  “You know Mum and Dad won’t stand for that.  If they ever find out, they’ll... they’ll... disown me, just like they did with you!”</p><p>“Oh, Cedric,” Kirk said as he hugged his little brother to him so that Cedric’s head rested on his shoulder.  “I want you to listen to me, okay, Cedric?  If Mum and Dad disown you, that’s their loss.  If they’re too stupid and pig-headed not to accept you just because you’re not everything they wanted you to be, then that’s their problem, not yours.  It’s not a child’s job to be everything that their parents want them to be.  You can’t go through life sacrificing your own happiness just to make them happy.”</p><p>“I know, Kirk, but...”</p><p>“No, buts, Cedric,” Kirk said.  “Your happiness is important and as long as there’s breath in my body I will not let you sacrifice it to make our parents happy.  You’re such a kind and loving boy, you deserve to be happy and from what I can see, all you are right now is miserable.  And I suspect that, even though you seemed happy all this time, you haven’t been, have you?  Inside it’s been killing you to keep up this charade of denying what you are just so that Mum and Dad would go on loving you.  You shouldn’t have to do that, Cedric!  A parent’s love is supposed to be unconditional.”</p><p>“It’s not just that our parents will stop loving me,” Cedric said.  “It’s also about Lucy.  You know what happened when you came out.  They threw you out of the house and disowned you.  Lucy was born, and if it wasn’t for the pictures I’ve sent you, you would never have seen her.”</p><p>Kirk’s heart clenched as he thought about his baby sister, who as Cedric had said, he had never laid eyes upon in person.  Lucy Diggory was born the year after Kirk came out to his parents and told them about his relationship with Charlie.  Kirk and Cedric’s parents, Amos and Amelia Diggory, did not take the news that their eldest son was gay well.  Before Kirk could even say his own name, Amos was screaming at him to get out and never come back.  That he was no longer welcome in the family home because he was no longer family.  Kirk was cut off completely, as if he had never even existed, and as a result, he had never been allowed to see his baby sister.</p><p>Once Cedric was back at Hogwarts and away from his parents’ ever watchful eyes, he began to send frequent letters to Kirk, because despite what his parents said, Cedric still considered Kirk to be family.  Cedric befriended Colin Creevey, Hogwarts’ resident shutterbug, who then made copies of all of the pictures of Lucy that Cedric’s mother sent him, which Cedric then included in his letters to Kirk.  During the summer months, Amos was often busy at the Ministry and Amelia was often busy without household chores, so it fell to Cedric to take care of his sister.  As such, he’d really come to love Lucy with all his heart and he knew that if his parents ever found out that he was gay, they’d disown him just like they did Kirk and cut him out of Lucy’s life.  He also knew that they would poison Lucy’s mind against both him and Kirk as soon as she was old enough to understand.</p><p>“Kirk, I can’t be gay!” Cedric wailed.  “I can’t be!  Mum and Dad will disown me and then they’ll raise Lucy to hate us both.  You’ve only seen her in pictures, but I’ve held her, cuddled her, and sang to her.  I love that little girl and the thought of her growing up and telling me that I’m sick and that she hates me, I can’t handle it!”</p><p>Kirk could feel the pain in Cedric’s voice and the love he had for Lucy.  He understood now that it wasn’t so much their parents he was afraid of losing, it was their little sister.  Despite only seeing pictures of her, Kirk loved Lucy, but he could understand how Cedric could feel a much closer bond with the little girl and that he didn’t want to lose it.  Holding Cedric tight, Kirk rocked him in his arms for awhile, his heart breaking as Cedric cried himself to sleep on his shoulder.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Meanwhile, in Roger and Blaise’s room, Bill carried Harry into the room and laid him down on Roger’s bed.  Before unfreezing him, Bill proceeded to ward the room so that they wouldn’t be disturbed.  The charms and spells Bill used were far more powerful than the ones that Kirk had used on Cedric and Harry’s room, but then Bill had to learn lots of very powerful magic in his training as a curse-breaker.  It was, after all, his job to dismantle all of the magical protections and curses set by the ancient Egyptian priests and that was among the strongest magic ever created, unlike anything the vast majority of wizards these days practiced.  As a result, Bill had to learn lots of very powerful charms, not only to undo the Egyptian charms, but also to adequately replace them once they were gone to keep Muggles out of the tombs.</p><p>Once he finished warding the room, Bill came over to Roger’s bed and sat down next to Harry before he muttered, “&lt;i&gt;<em>Finite Incantatem&lt;/i&gt;</em>.”</p><p>Looking around, Harry sat bolt upright on the bed and said, “What’s going on?  Where am I?”</p><p>“It’s okay, Harry,” Bill said.  “You’re in Roger and Blaise’s room.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Do you remember what happened tonight?”  Bill asked in response.</p><p>“Yes, of course, I do,” Harry answered in a tone that clearly said he thought Bill’s question to be ridiculous.  “It’s Cedric’s birthday, we were playing Truth or Dare and Phillip dared me to kiss two people.  I ended up kissing him and Cedric... Oh Gods...”</p><p>“I take it you felt something while kissing him?”</p><p>“Yeah, I... well, it’s hard to explain,” Harry responded.  “It was like... well, like little bolts of electricity coursing through my body.  It felt so good, like nothing else mattered but kissing him – like breathing wasn’t even important anymore.  Is that normal to feel like that when kissing somebody?  I didn’t feel it with Phillip.”</p><p>“Well, I’m far from an expert on matters of the heart,” Bill said, “but I can tell you that, I personally have never felt what you’re describing when I’ve kissed someone and I’ve kissed my fair share of people over the years.”</p><p>“Great, just what I needed to hear – one more thing to make me a freak.”</p><p>“Harry, you’re not a freak.”</p><p>“Aren’t I, though?  Voldemort cast the Killing Curse on me when I was only a year old.  I should be dead, but I’m not.  Nobody is supposed to be able to shrug off the Killing Curse and yet I did it.  That can only mean that I’m a freak.”</p><p>“No, Harry, that doesn’t make you a freak,” Bill said.  “All it means is that you’re very powerful.  Maybe even one of the most powerful wizards alive, I don’t know, but you are certainly not a freak.”</p><p>“My relatives would disagree,” Harry said.  “They’ve called me that for as long as I can remember.  Of course, they think all wizards and witches are freaks.”</p><p>“Well, they’re narrow-minded idiots then,” Bill said.</p><p>“So about this kiss and what I felt,” Harry said.  “Do you think my having such a reaction means that I’m gay?”</p><p>“Well, I’d say it definitely means something,” Bill answered.  “Whether you’re gay or not, I couldn’t say, Harry.  Only you can answer that question.”</p><p>“This may sound like a dumb question, but how does the Wizarding world react to gay people?  I mean, in the Muggle world, there are a number of people who are accepting of it, but there’s also a large group of people who are violently against it.”</p><p>“As I believe Athena has already told you, Harry, the only dumb question is the one that goes unasked.  As for Wizarding stance on homosexuality, much like the Muggle world, it’s a divided issue.  Some people promote tolerance and acceptance of it.  However, there is a section of Wizarding society which views homosexuality in a very negative light.”</p><p>“How negative, exactly?”</p><p>“There are some, mainly the old pureblood families, who believe that being gay is worse than using one of the Unforgivable Curses.  In fact, if some people had their way, being gay would result in a lifetime sentence in Azkaban.”</p><p>“How can being gay be worse than using the Unforgivables?”  Harry asked, truly confused.</p><p>“Well, as I said, the most vocal people against it come from the older pureblood families.  They believe that being gay is worse than using an Unforgivable because a gay heir will not produce children, which could mean the death of the bloodline and the family name.  To many of the old pureblood families preventing that is of paramount importance.”</p><p>“Charlie is gay and your family is pureblood,” Harry said.  “What’s their stance on it?”</p><p>Deciding to be honest with Harry, Bill said, “Charlie isn’t the only Weasley who’s gay – I am too, actually.  As for how our parents feel about it, they have no problems with Charlie and me.  All they care about is that we’re happy and healthy.  Besides, they have Percy, George, Ron, and Ginny to give them grandchildren.”</p><p>“What about Fred?”  Harry asked, noting that Bill had left him out.</p><p>“Well, to be honest, I’m not entirely sure about him,” Bill said.  “I did catch Fred looking at a couple of my ex-boyfriends in a way that could only be described as lustful.  He’s never said one way or the other what he is.  Of course, neither have Ron or Ginny, I’m just guessing on them.”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that Ron and Ginny are straight,” Harry said.  “Ron told me that Ginny has a crush on me and I think Ron likes Hermione.”</p><p>“Well, they’re both young,” Bill said.   “As are you, Harry. You all have plenty of time to figure it out.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s true,” Harry said.  Thinking for awhile, the room was silent, until Harry said, “Thanks for talking with me, Bill.  I feel a little better now.”</p><p>“Anytime, Harry,” Bill said with a smile.  “You’re an honorary Weasley, after all, so, anytime you need me, I’m here for you.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Meanwhile, in the second floor sitting room, Athena had come upstairs to get everyone so that they could sing “Happy Birthday” to Cedric and cut his cake, before opening his presents.  However, Cedric was still in the bedroom with Kirk and had shown no signs of emerging anytime soon.  Phillip and Michelle explained to Athena what had happened since dinner.</p><p>“So, Harry and Cedric kissed and were oblivious to everything else?”  Athena asked.  “Even to having ice cold water dumped over their heads?”</p><p>“Yeah, they were,” Michelle confirmed.</p><p>“And what about you two?”  Athena asked as she pointed at Roger and Blaise.</p><p>Both young men blushed slightly, before Roger said, “Well, I certainly enjoyed it.  I don’t know if Blaise felt anything, but I felt a kind of electrical charge.”</p><p>“Yeah, I felt it, too,” Blaise said.  “We did, however, separate when Blaine dumped cold water over our heads.”</p><p>“This electrical charge,” Athena prompted, “did it feel like it was coursing through every blood vessel and nerve in your body?”</p><p>“Yes,” Roger and Blaise answered in unison.</p><p>“It can’t be,” Athena thought.  “Can it?  The odds are astronomical, but unless I’m way off base, Roger and Blaise, at the very least, have the symptoms.  Harry and Cedric might, as well, but I won’t know until I talk to them and do some more research.”</p><p>“Okay, well, I’ll put a Preservative Charm on Cedric’s cake,” Athena said, “and we’ll have it for dessert tomorrow night.  I think I’m going to turn in for the night.  Pleasant dreams, everyone.”</p><p>Athena waved to everyone and headed downstairs.  But, she was not on her way to bed.  Sleep was the last thing on her mind.  Entering the kitchen, Athena veered into the small hallway that led to the first-floor bedrooms and entered her room.  Waving her hand behind her, the door closed and locked as a throw rug in front of the cedar blanket chest at the foot of her bed moved to one side to reveal a trap door beneath.  As the trap door opened, a stone stairwell, lit by torches, came into view and Athena descended the stairs into the basement of the house.</p><p>Of course, this section of the basement was completely self-contained and did not connect with the rest of the basement, accessible through another trap door in the kitchen.  Three walls of the room were filled with bookcases and Athena quickly began scanning the shelves for the book she wanted.  Pulling it out and sitting down in a nearby chair, she thought, “If what I’m thinking is true, then my young charges are going to be more powerful than I thought.  A part of me almost hopes I’m not right, because I know that power can corrupt and if I’m right, when their training is complete, they could each be more powerful than any wizard who’s ever lived – including Merlin.”</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>To be continued.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Unexpected Love<br/>By J.C. Vascardi</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Chapter Six</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Emerging from her basement library after over thirty hours of non-stop research, Athena sighed as she closed the trapdoor and replaced the rug.  Unlocking the door to her bedroom, she went out to the kitchen to get something to eat, because in her fervor to find answers, she hadn’t paused to eat, drink, or even sleep.  The other trainers knew something was up - it was unlike Athena to disappear for such a long time, which meant that the boys also suspected something was amiss.  If it had been Emma, they would have thought nothing of it, because she often was gone, but Athena was not the disappearing type.</p><p>“Athena, there you are,” Eudora said as she entered the kitchen.  “Where have you been?”</p><p>“Researching,” Athena said as she poured coffee into the coffee pot.  Inhaling the rich aroma, she sighed happily.  The special blend she favoured was rather difficult to procure, but the taste more than made up for it.</p><p>“All this time?” Eudora asked.  “We haven’t seen you since the night of Cedric’s birthday party.  You came downstairs and swept into your bedroom without a word to any of us.”</p><p>“I take it you know what happened that night?”</p><p>“We know they played Truth or Dare,” Eudora said.  “May I assume that something that happened during that game is what caused you to go on a research binge?”</p><p>“Indeed,” Athena answered, as she placed the coffee pot on the stove to heat, before going over and grabbing an apple from the bowl of fruit in the center of the kitchen table.  “I had some suspicions about the other night’s events, but I had to look into a few things to be certain.  I haven’t talked with Harry and Cedric, but from what Roger and Blaise told me, along with my research, I’m nearly certain I’m right.”</p><p>“Right about what?”  Eudora asked.</p><p>“Not now, please,” Athena said.  “I haven’t eaten or slept in over thirty hours.  And I will have to explain this new turn of events to the boys, anyway, so rather than repeating myself by telling you and the other trainers first and then the boys, I’ll just tell you all at once.  But that’s after I’ve eaten and gotten some sleep.”</p><p>“Of course,” Eudora said.  “How are you ever going to sleep after drinking that coffee?”</p><p>Athena walked over to the cabinets, mug in hand. Pulling out a small glass vial, she stirred the contents into her coffee. “A Sleeping Draught,” she said, looking at Eudora.</p><p>“Be careful, those things are addictive.”</p><p>“I know,” Athena said.  “It’ll be the first time this year I’ve taken one, so I think I should be fine.”</p><p>Eudora nodded and then asked, “Shall I tell Emma to be here at any particular time tonight?”</p><p>“Yes,” Athena answered as she toasted a bagel and spread cream cheese on it with a wave of her hand.  “Let’s say in eight hours from now.  Oh, and please contact Blaine Zabini.  I want him here for this as well.”</p><p>“What does Blaine have to do with anything?”</p><p>“More than you might think,” Athena said.  “If he’s willing, we may have to seriously consider taking on a fifth student.  Anyway, I’ll explain later, after I get some sleep.”</p><p>“Sleep well, Athena,” Eudora said, as Athena took her coffee, bagel, and apple into her bedroom and locked herself in for the second time in less than two days.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Meanwhile, a few miles away at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...</p><p>“Rolanda, may I speak with you?”  Professor Dumbledore asked.</p><p>“Of course, Headmaster,” Rolanda answered, as she followed him to his office.</p><p>“Would you care for some tea?  Or a lemon drop, perhaps?”  Professor Dumbledore asked as he sat down behind his desk.</p><p>“No thank you, sir,” Rolanda said as she took a seat in front of the large desk.  “What did you wish to speak to me about?”</p><p>“I was just curious where you’ve been recently,” Professor Dumbledore said.  “I’ve noticed that while you have been here to teach your Flying classes, you seem to be absent the rest of the time.”</p><p>“Well, not having Quidditch to referee,” Rolanda said, “I do find myself with quite a bit of free time on my hands.”</p><p>“I’ve been talking with the rest of the staff,” Professor Dumbledore said, “and none of them seem to recall seeing you around the castle, unless it’s on a day you have a class to teach.”</p><p>“Well, I have been spending quite a bit of time away from the school,” Rolanda said.  “My mother has been ill and I’ve been going to Inverness to spend my free time helping my father to care for her.”</p><p>Rolanda regretted saying it almost as soon as the words had left her mouth.  Surely, Professor Dumbledore would not be fooled by such a weak lie as that, as he almost certainly knew that her mother was dead.  “Stupid woman!”  Rolanda chastised herself mentally.  “Why in Merlin’s name did you say that?”</p><p>“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Professor Dumbledore said, after a few moments of silence.  As usual, his face was impossible to read, so, Rolanda had no way of knowing whether or not he believed her lie or not.  “I do hope that your mother recovers soon.”</p><p>“Thank you, Headmaster,” Rolanda said.  “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should be going.  I have a class to teach in about ten minutes.”</p><p>“Of course, Rolanda,” Professor Dumbledore said with a smile.  “Have a nice day.”</p><p>Hoping the expression on her face passed for a smile, Rolanda exited the Headmaster’s office, silently cursing herself. She’d slipped up, and badly. Hopefully she could fix things before the nosy old coot dug any further into the matter.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>Eight hours later, Emma, Eudora, Rose, Blaine, Cedric, Harry, Roger, and Blaise were sitting in the first floor sitting room waiting for Athena to come and tell them what the hell was going on.  Blaine was supposed to be at work, but his boss had been nice enough to give him the evening off when he told him that he had to attend to a family emergency.  It wasn’t technically a lie, because from the little he had been able to glean from Eudora, something was going on with Blaise. Something important. That settled it for Blaine- he would gladly have faced Mr. Burke’s wrath in order to spend the evening with his little brother.</p><p>Blaine didn’t exactly enjoy working at Borgin and Burkes, but he had little choice if he wanted to support himself.  Very few people in Wizarding Britain liked the idea of employing someone from Durmstrang– especially when their student records showed that they’d earned an Outstanding in both their Dark Arts O.W.L. and N.E.W.T.  It didn’t really matter to any of them that Durmstrang didn’t teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, or that Blaine would gladly have taken that instead of Dark Arts if he’d had the option.</p><p>Caroline Zabini was more than willing to provide for her elder son, but Blaine was loath to accept any help.</p><p>“Blaine, is something wrong?” Blaise asked, noticing the odd look on his brother’s face.</p><p>“Hmm?” Blaine asked a bit distractedly.  Shaking his head, he said, “No, nothing’s wrong, I was just thinking.”</p><p>“About why Athena wants to talk to all of us?” Roger assumed.</p><p>Not wanting to get into what had been on his mind with Roger, Harry, and Cedric, who had probably been told to avoid Knockturn Alley like the plague, Blaine nodded and said, “Yes, it is rather curious.”  Turning his head to look at Eudora, he pressed, “So, you have no idea what was so important?”</p><p>“No, I don’t,” Eudora said.  “Athena can be very secretive when she wants to be.”</p><p>Nobody said anything else, until a few minutes later, when Athena walked into the room and sat down in her favourite armchair.</p><p>Holding up her hands to forestall any questions, Athena said, “Recent events have brought to light something which I was not expecting.  It is not entirely unwelcome news, but, I must admit, that I am still quite caught off guard by it.”</p><p>“By what, Athena?”  Rose asked.</p><p>“First, I have a request to make,” Athena said.  Motioning towards Roger, Blaise, and Blaine, Athena asked, “Could the three of you please stand up?”</p><p>Looking rather confused, Roger, Blaise, and Blaine did as Athena asked.</p><p>“Now kiss each other,” Athena said.</p><p>“What?” Blaine exclaimed.</p><p>“All will be explained,” Athena said to Blaine, “just do it, please.  I want each of you to kiss each other – more specifically, I want both you and Blaise to kiss Roger, on the lips, simultaneously.”</p><p>Roger, Blaine, and Blaise were shocked and definitely more than a little confused by Athena’s request, but figured that she wasn’t going to be giving anyone any answers until they’d done as she asked.  Kneeling down to help compensate for the differences in their heights, Blaine and Blaise leaned in and kissed Roger.  It was a bit awkward at first, trying to position their lips in such a way that they were both kissing Roger at the same time, but after a minute, they got the hang of it.</p><p>Almost instantly, the feeling of electrical pulses in every nerve and blood vessel filled both Roger and Blaise, but the difference this time was that Blaine felt them, too, and they were much stronger this time than when Blaise and Roger had kissed.  Before any of them realized what was going on, they were all wrapped tightly in each other’s arms, trying to get as close to one another as they possibly could and they were completely oblivious to everything around them.  And much like what had happened when Harry and Cedric kissed, the feeling that not even breathing was important anymore, as long as the kiss continued, washed over all three young men.</p><p>After three minutes of watching the kiss, Athena waved her hand and a jet of ice cold water poured over Roger, Blaine, and Blaise’s heads, but it didn’t stop them from kissing, which gave Athena the final piece of the puzzle that she had been searching for – the one thing in all of the research she had done that had confused her.</p><p>“&lt;i&gt;Petrificus Totalus!&lt;/i&gt;” Athena said, pointing at Roger.  Within seconds of Roger becoming unresponsive, Blaine and Blaise came to their senses and pulled away from him.  Unfreezing Roger with a wave of her hand, she motioned for the boys to take their seats again.</p><p>Blaise was the first to speak, “What in Merlin’s name just happened?”</p><p>“You felt electrical pulses again?”  Athena asked in response.</p><p>“Yes, only they were quite a bit stronger this time,” Blaise said.  “They were there last time, but not nearly as strong.”</p><p>“That would be because Blaine wasn’t participating last time,” Athena said.</p><p>“You’ve lost me,” Blaine said.  “What exactly was the point of that?  And why did we feel electrical pulses throughout our bodies when we kissed?”</p><p>“To answer your question plainly,” Athena said, “It is my belief that the three of you are soul mates.”</p><p>“Soul mates?”  Roger asked.  “That’s impossible.”</p><p>“Nothing is impossible, Roger,” Athena said.  “Improbable yes, but not impossible.”</p><p>“From everything I’ve ever heard,” Rose said, “the chances of soul mates meeting one another are astronomical and it’s always been my understanding that three people cannot be soul mates.”</p><p>“Yes, that is what confused me, as well,” Athena said.  “Which is why I asked Blaine and Blaise to kiss Roger – I needed to know if Blaine felt anything during the kiss and if Roger and Blaise felt a stronger version of what they’d felt previously.”</p><p>“What are you talking about?”  Emma asked.</p><p>“Blaine, you got an Outstanding in the Dark Arts at Durmstrang,” Athena said and Blaine nodded. “Tell me; are you familiar with the Soul-Splitting Spell?”</p><p>“You mean &lt;i&gt;Animus Fissura&lt;/i&gt;?”  Blaine asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Athena said.</p><p>“Well, we studied it very briefly during seventh year,” Blaine said, “but our professor was reluctant to teach us much about it. He said it was one of the darkest spells ever created and that it was part of the method used to create an artifact of untold evil and darkness which he refused to say anything more about.  Considering that he took great pleasure in teaching us the Unforgivable Curses, we were all a bit confused by his reluctance.”</p><p>“Well, he was right,” Athena said.  “One of the main uses of the Soul-Splitting Spell is the creation of an artifact called a Horcrux.  A Horcrux is an item that is imbued with a fragment of a wizard’s soul, making it impossible for that wizard to die as long as his Horcrux remains intact.  A lesser known use of the spell, however, is to split one’s soul, or somebody else’s soul, in order to have a child.”</p><p>“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”  Blaine asked.</p><p>“Yes, Blaine,” Athena said.  “It is my belief that your mother did not use an ordinary Cloning Spell to create Blaise.  I think that she used the Soul-Splitting Spell to split your soul and then used the first part of the method employed to create Horcruxes to imbue one of her eggs with a fragment of your soul, which she then impregnated herself with, giving birth to you a second time.”</p><p>Everyone remained silent for several minutes, until finally Blaise asked, “Does that mean that I am a Horcrux?”</p><p>“No, it does not,” Athena said.  “I highly doubt that it was your mother’s intention to create a Horcrux when she made you, Blaise.  As you may all know already, intent is very important to many spells.  Take the Cruciatus Curse, for example.  In order for the spell to work properly, you have to want to cause pain beyond imagining to the person you’re casting it on.  Oh you can make it work for a few seconds by just being extremely angry with a person, but that anger is not enough to make the curse operate at its full strength.  Furthermore, the spells to create a Horcrux cannot be used to create a Horcrux for somebody else – the soul used has to be the soul of the caster.  After the Imbuing Spell, which binds the soul fragment to the item, there are at least three other spells used in the creation of a Horcrux that must be cast by the owner of the soul doing the casting.”</p><p>“What does all of this mean?”  Roger asked.</p><p>“What it means, Roger,” Athena answered, “is that Blaine was born your soul mate, or more accurately, you were born his soul mate, since he was born first.  But, because his mother split his soul in order to create Blaise, they are both your soul mate, which means between the two of them, they share the other half of your soul.”</p><p>“The other half of my soul?”  Roger asked, in a tone that suggested extreme confusion.</p><p>“In some ancient cultures,” Eudora said, “it was believed that at one time all humans had two heads, four arms and four legs.  Then at some point, it was believed that the Gods got angry with humans and split them in halves, splitting not only their mortal bodies but their immortal souls, as well, thus making the now separate people yearn to reunite with the other half of their soul.  But, it is believed that the Gods then killed half of every pair and made sure that the vast majority of soul pairs were never alive at the same time or if they were, they were so far apart geographically that the chances of finding one another were next to none.”</p><p>“Throughout history, however,” Athena added, “there have been documented cases of confirmed soul mates finding one another.  Even more rare, but nonetheless documented, were instances of two separate pairs of soul mates knowing one another.  Which I believe is what has happened now – as it is my belief that not only are Blaine, Blaise, and Roger soul mates, but that Harry and Cedric are soul mates as well.”</p><p>“You think Harry is my soul mate?” Cedric asked.</p><p>“Yes, Cedric, I do,” Athena responded.  “The symptoms all of you described are the symptoms associated with finding one’s soul mate.  The electrical pulses you felt were present because your souls were reacting to being in such close proximity to one another.  Basically your souls were trying to get out of your bodies and reunite into the single whole that they’re supposed to be, but, the bonds of your mortal flesh are too great to allow that.  Only death or a Dementor’s Kiss is capable of tearing the soul from the body.  The Soul-Splitting Spell can tear a small fragment of the soul from the body, but not the entire soul.”</p><p>“So does this mean that Cedric and I are supposed to be a couple?”  Harry asked.  He wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that.  In the roughly day and a half since Cedric’s birthday, Harry had given the matter some thought and he was willing to admit that he might be gay and that he did think Cedric was attractive, but he really wasn’t certain if he could see himself spending the rest of his life with the older boy.  Of course, Harry still felt like he barely knew Cedric, they’d met only a handful of times at Hogwarts, and while they now shared a bedroom, they had still only begun getting to really know one another.  Harry had never really believed in love at first sight and did not think that a lifetime commitment could be built with someone that you only knew for two months.</p><p>“No, it doesn’t,” Athena answered.  “Finding one’s soul mate does not necessarily mean that you absolutely must fall in love with that person.  There have been documented cases of people being very happily married with children when they met their soul mate, who was also very happily married with children of their own.  The soul mates in question, then often chose to live near one another, but kept their relationship with each other platonic, because they still loved and were committed to their individual spouses.”</p><p>“Does finding your soul mate make you any different?”  Blaine asked.</p><p>“Yes, it does, actually,” Athena replied.  “There are two spells that can be cast on soul mates which will activate the power of their combined souls and provide both of them certain benefits that they wouldn’t have otherwise.  The first spell is known simply as the Soul Mate’s Bond, and is meant for soul mates who choose to remain friends only.</p><p>“The spell grants both partners an estimated ten to fifteen percent increase in their magical power, which means that all spells cast by them are ten to fifteen percent stronger than spells cast by a normal witch or wizard who has not met their soul mate.  It also grants emergency empathy and telepathy – which means that only in the event of an emergency, say if your soul mate is injured or is in mortal peril, you’d be able to sense their emotions and speak to them telepathically.</p><p>“Platonic soul mates also have an emergency Apparition ability, which means that in an emergency situation you could Apparate to your soul mate’s location, and even if you normally could not perform Side-Along-Apparitions, the power of the bond would allow you to Side-Along-Apparate up to two other people with you to your mate’s location to help diffuse the emergency situation.</p><p>“Of course, there is one final benefit granted to platonic soul mates through the spell cast to bind them together.  Bonded soul mates have a much easier time of resisting both the Imperius and Cruciatus Curses, and it is believed that they also possess a fifty percent chance of rebounding the Killing Curse against the person who cast it on them.”</p><p>When Harry heard that, he couldn’t help but ask, “If Cedric is my soul mate, does that have anything to do with why I rebounded the Killing Curse against Voldemort when he tried to kill me?”</p><p>“Well, Harry, that’s a very good question,” Athena said.  “You and Cedric may be soul mates, but you are not bonded, because unless I’m very much mistaken, the spell to form the bond has not been cast on either of you.  And I highly doubt that I’m wrong about that.”</p><p>“How can you be sure?” Harry asked.</p><p>“Because the spell could not possibly have been cast on you at the age you were when Voldemort tried to kill you,” Athena said.  “One requirement of both versions of the Soul Mate’s Bond, is a physical joining of the bodies of the soul mates.  What that means is that you have to have sex with your soul mate while the spell is cast.  Even if it’s only that one time, a sexual union is necessary to formalize the bond, regardless of whether it’s a bond of friendship or love.  So, I think I can safely say, that the spell was never cast, because I sincerely hope that Cedric wasn’t having sex with anyone when he was only four years old, let alone with you, Harry, considering you were only one at the time.”</p><p>Cedric and Harry both blushed at the thought of having sex with each other – even if it was only one time.  Cedric was sure that his parents would think it was completely out of the question to do it, even if it was to formalize the bond of friendship.  Cedric knew that fighting the fact that he was gay was futile and he knew that short of using the Fidelius Charm, it would probably be impossible to keep the fact that he was gay from his parents forever.  He just hoped that he could keep it from them long enough to allow Lucy time to grow up and form her own opinions, without having her mind poisoned against him.</p><p>After a few moments of thought, Athena said, “You know, Harry, it’s possible that even inactivated, your bond with Cedric may have had something to do with why you survived that night.  As you know, Harry, your mother died to protect you.  While that in itself was a powerful sacrifice, not completely without magical repercussions, I honestly don’t think that it was enough to rebound the Killing Curse.  Lily was not the only mother who died trying to protect her children during the war and yet, Harry, you are the only child I know of who survived.  I think what happened was that the power of your mother’s sacrifice may have temporarily activated your bond with Cedric and forced the curse back against Voldemort.”</p><p>“Is that what my nightmares were about?”  Cedric thought, as he thought back to when he was about four years old.  Cedric couldn’t remember exactly when they started happening, but he knew it was around the end of October of the year he turned four.  For almost a year after that, he had nightmares almost every night in which he heard a high-pitched and cruel laugh that still sent chills through his body and saw a flash of green light.  “Could I have been having nightmares about Harry’s attack?  Caused because he’s my... my... soul mate?”</p><p>“So, what are the benefits if the bond is based on love?”  Blaine asked after a few more moments of silence.</p><p>“Well, they’re basically the same,” Athena said.  “They’re just strengthened to a higher degree.  The magical ability increases by about twenty-five to thirty percent, and the couple becomes empathic and telepathic with one another all the time, rather than just emergency situations.  The Apparition ability is strengthened so that you could Side-Along-Apparate up to five people to your mate’s location, regardless of distance and through Anti-Apparition wards.  So, for example, if one of the soul mates was inside Hogwarts Castle and the other wasn’t, it would be possible for either one of them to Apparate through the castle’s Anti-Apparition wards.  As for the Unforgivables, it’s believed that soul mates whose bond is based on love are immune to all three of the Unforgivables.  In the documented history that I could find, it seems as though they were at least immune to the Imperius and the Cruciatus, which would then suggest immunity to the Killing Curse, as well, but none of the documented couples were willing to risk it to find out, which in my opinion, is completely understandable.”</p><p>There was another benefit granted to soul mates whose bond was based in love, but, Athena decided not to share that particular knowledge at the moment.  She thought of it as professor’s prerogative not to share everything with her students at once.  Besides, it would perhaps be more fun to let the boys find certain things out on their own, if they ended up going down the love path.  Athena had to admit, she was slightly worried about that, because the love path would certainly mean that all four of them – and quite possibly five of them including Blaine in the equation – would be more powerful than Merlin and she hoped that between herself and the other trainers, it would be possible to make the boys treat that power with respect and not allow it to go to their heads, as had happened too many times before.</p><p>“Blaine, what I’ve revealed tonight inescapably ties you to two of my students,” Athena said.  “I would very much appreciate it, if you would agree to allow Rose, Emma, Eudora, and I to train you in the same manner that we’re training Roger, Blaise, Harry, and Cedric.”</p><p>“You want to train me?”  Blaine asked.</p><p>“Yes, Blaine, I do,” Athena confirmed.  “It was not our intention to take on five students, but, thanks to your mother creating Blaise in the manner that she did and the fact that you share a soul with two of my students, I think you need to be trained as they are.  You needn’t worry about your job at Borgin and Burkes, because I can create a temporary replacement for you, just like what’s been done for everyone else here, other than Emma.”</p><p>The moment she said it, Athena regretted it.  She hadn’t intended to reveal that bit of information – that she, Rose, and Eudora also had temporary replacements somewhere.</p><p>“What do you mean everyone here, but Emma?”  Cedric asked, immediately picking up on Athena’s slip of the tongue.  “You mean Rose, Eudora, and you also have temporary replacements somewhere else?  Is that why Emma is gone so much because she doesn’t have a replacement?”</p><p>Athena briefly considered conjuring up some form of cover story, but, as she thought about it, she figured that perhaps if her students knew the truth, they would be a bit more trusting of not only her, but the other trainers as well.  Of course, there was a chance that they would lose some trust in the trainers, after being lied to, but Athena was confident that she could make them all see why this particular lie was necessary.  The other trainers remained silent, deciding to follow Athena’s lead – since she was the Secret Keeper of the secret identities of all the trainers anyway and none of them could reveal who they really were even if they wanted to.</p><p>“Yes, Cedric,” Athena answered after a minute.  “I do have a temporary replacement elsewhere, as does Rose and Eudora.  It was necessary, because we needed to keep your training a secret from everyone, but most of all, that idiot Dumbledore.  As of now, I don’t really think it’s all that important anymore that he doesn’t know about it, as I think the progress you’ve made is enough that he could see that it would be beneficial for your training to continue, however, that under no circumstances means that I’m going to seek him out.”</p><p>“Despite their training being protected by the Fidelius,” Emma said, “I think it’s only a matter of time before the old fool catches on.  He can be annoying in the extreme and so secretive that it’s maddening, but, he does have a brain, a very good brain, in his head.  Truth be told he called me into his office this morning.  He’s suspicious about the amount of time I’ve been spending away from the castle.”</p><p>“Away from the castle?”  Roger asked.  “Do you mean to say that you’re one of the Hogwarts professors, Emma?”</p><p>“That information is protected under the Fidelius,” Athena said.  “Emma cannot answer your question, Roger, because I am the Secret Keeper, but yes, it’s true.  Emma is a professor at Hogwarts and Emma Baldwin is not her real name.  She does not have a temporary replacement at Hogwarts, because she’s been acting as my agent at the castle, keeping me informed about what’s happening there.  Eudora, Rose, and I are also Hogwarts professors and those are not our real names.”</p><p>“Would it be possible for us to guess who you might be?”  Harry asked.  “I mean, even with the Fidelius, I assume it’s possible for us to suspect who you are, but not know for certain unless you choose to reveal the secret?”</p><p>“You are correct, Harry,” Eudora responded.  “The Fidelius will certainly not prevent you or anyone else from having suspicions about our true identities, but those suspicions can never be confirmed unless Athena confirms them for you.  We’re actually all wearing Glamour Charms right now to make us look different, but without knowing the secret, even if we forgot to apply them, you would see us as you know us and not as whom we really are.”</p><p>“Even though all of you already know us as we really are, since we’re all on staff at Hogwarts,” Rose added with a grin.</p><p>“Well, don’t keep us in suspense!”  Blaise exclaimed.  “Who are you?”</p><p>“Now, now, Blaise, patience is a virtue,” Athena chastised.  “I actually rather like Harry’s suggestion.  There are clues about who we really are, if you’re smart enough to pick up on them.”</p><p>Everyone in the room remained silent for a moment, before finally Blaise, looking at Emma, said, “Wait a minute, you always referee our Quidditch games and your eyes – there’s only one professor at Hogwarts that I can think of that has hawk-like yellow eyes.  You’re the Hogwarts Flying teacher and Quidditch Referee, Madam Rolanda Hooch, aren’t you, Emma?”</p><p>“I can neither confirm nor deny that implication,” Emma said with a smile.</p><p>“Very good, Blaise,” Athena said.  “You are correct.  Emma Baldwin and Rolanda Hooch are one and the same.”</p><p>Now that Emma’s part of the secret was revealed, she waved her hand over her face a few times, dispelling the Glamour Charms that hid her true appearance.  Within seconds, the features of Emma Baldwin melted away and were replaced with those of Madam Rolanda Hooch.</p><p>“So, you’ve been going back and forth to Hogwarts every day?”  Cedric asked.</p><p>“Yes, Cedric, I have,” Rolanda answered.  “Of all the trainers, I have the lightest schedule since I only teach Flying classes and only first years take that class.  Normally, I would also be refereeing the inter-house Quidditch games, but those have been cancelled this year.”</p><p>“Cancelled?  Why?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Hogwarts is playing host to the Triwizard Tournament this year,” Eudora answered.</p><p>“The Triwizard Tournament?”  Blaine asked.  “Correct me, if I’m wrong, but that hasn’t been held in hundreds of years.”</p><p>“You are quite correct, Blaine,” Athena said.  Knowing that Harry probably didn’t know what the tournament was about, Athena said, “The Triwizard Tournament was established centuries ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European Wizarding schools, Hogwarts, in addition to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.  The three schools took turns hosting it every five years, until eventually the death toll got out of hand and it stopped being held.”</p><p>“Death toll?”  Harry asked.</p><p>“Yes,” Eudora answered.  “A single champion is picked from each school and they then compete in a series of three magical tasks.  These tasks are often extremely dangerous and unfortunately, when the tournament was first conceived of, it was not unheard of for one or even all of the schools’ champions to be only a first-year student – which made the tasks much more lethal than they would have been for say a sixth or seventh year student.”</p><p>“Why would the professors even allow a first-year to compete if they knew that the tasks were not suited to a person that young?”</p><p>“That’s a very good question, Cedric,” Rose asked.  “However, the professors had no say in who was picked as the champion for each school.  The champions are picked by an impartial judge – an inanimate impartial judge.  Or more specifically an artifact known as the Goblet of Fire – students would put their names in it, along with the name of their school, and it would then randomly pick three students to compete, one from each school.”</p><p>“Thankfully, however,” Rolanda said, “the Heads of the schools involved, as well as the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age limit this time around.  No student under the age of seventeen will be allowed to put their name in the Goblet and Professor Dumbledore is personally seeing to casting the necessary enchantments to make sure that nobody under seventeen enters.”</p><p>During a lull in the conversation, Athena idly waved her hand in the air, muttering an incantation under her breath.  A digital clock appeared before her.</p><p>“Oh my word,” Athena said.  “Will you look at the time?  It’s already past eleven o’clock.  That’s enough for tonight, I’m afraid.  You all are welcome to try again in the morning to guess the identities of Eudora, Rose, and I later, and talk more about the tournament, but for now,” as she pointed at Harry, Cedric, Roger, and Blaise, “off to bed with you.”</p><p>The four boys were disappointed, of course, but they knew better than to argue with Athena, so saying their good nights, they stood and headed up the cast iron staircase to the second floor of the cottage.</p><p>“Blaine, before you go,” Athena said, as she stood. “Will you let us train you?”</p><p>“Sure, why not?” Blaine asked.  “I’m always up for learning more, especially in the Defense Against the Dark Arts department.  I would have preferred to take that to be honest, but I didn’t have a choice at Durmstrang.  The Dark Arts are a requirement to finish your schooling there and they don’t offer Defense classes.”</p><p>“I’m sure we can arrange some extra classes for you, Blaine,” Eudora said with a smile.</p><p>“Well, then, Blaine, I know you can do Side-Along-Apparition,” Athena said.  “Why don’t you Apparate you and me to your home and I’ll take care of creating your replacement.  Then you can come live here at my cottage until your training is finished.”</p><p>“Where will I sleep?”  Blaine asked.</p><p>“Oh, I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Athena said with a smile.  “As you may have noticed, there is a staircase leading to an exterior entrance to the barn loft.  Most of the space is wasted; I think I could easily enclose part of it to give you a nice little flat.  That way you’ll be living on the property, but you’ll have a little more freedom then the other pupils have.”</p><p>“Sounds good to me,” Blaine said.</p><p>“Well, then, let us be off,” Athena said, as Blaine wrapped his arm around her and they disappeared with a pop a moment later.</p><p>*     *     *</p><p>To be continued.</p>
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